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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 120 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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. court — of law
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. craft — a skill
  9. tube — a container
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. court — for sport
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. bat — the animal
  15. craft — boats
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. tube — the underground
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. pound — a weight
  20. court — of a king
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. stand — to bear
  24. cold — not warm

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