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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The light ________________ burned out.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. lean — thin
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. bark — to shout
  6. game — wild animals
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. drill — a practice
  10. drill — army training
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bulb — for light
  14. lean — to bend
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bulb — for light
  20. kid — child
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. game — a match
  23. cold — not warm
  24. fan — a supporter

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