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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. hand — in cards
  3. band — a music group
  4. bark — to shout
  5. drill — a practice
  6. lean — thin
  7. drill — army training
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. swing — to play on
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. kid — to tease
  18. hand — help
  19. band — a ring
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. lean — to bend
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. drill — the tool

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