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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spell — letters
  3. shower — rain
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. staff — a stick
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. spell — magic
  9. cold — an illness
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. staff — employees
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pass — a permit
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. spell — a short time
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. chest — a box
  21. cold — not warm
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bark — to shout
  24. staff — employees

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