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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. present — a gift
  5. chair — a leader
  6. rule — government
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — a law
  16. present — there
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. bark — to shout
  20. shower — to wash
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. deal — to handle
  23. shower — rain
  24. present — the time now

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