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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 116 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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. bark — to shout
  6. wind — moving air
  7. row — a line
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. wind — moving air
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. kid — to tease
  15. cold — an illness
  16. kid — child
  17. mate — a partner
  18. cold — not warm
  19. row — to paddle
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. mate — a friend
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mate — to breed

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