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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. chair — a leader
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. spring — a coil
  6. staff — employees
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. spring — the season
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. staff — a stick
  11. rash — hasty
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. club — a group
  14. rash — a series
  15. staff — employees
  16. spring — of water
  17. kick — in football
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. club — for golf
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. cold — an illness
  22. club — for dancing
  23. bark — to shout
  24. kick — with a leg

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com