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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. band — a ring
  3. firm — steady
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. band — a music group
  6. bat — the animal
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. cold — an illness
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. root — the cause
  12. hand — in cards
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. firm — decided
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. root — of a word
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. hand — help
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. root — of a plant
  22. firm — a company
  23. bark — to shout
  24. band — a rubber band

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