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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — not warm
  5. chest — a box
  6. spell — a short time
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. bound — obliged
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. bound — tied together
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bound — certain
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. spell — letters
  15. dip — to sink
  16. bark — to shout
  17. pit — in a race
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. spell — magic
  20. chest — of your body
  21. saw — the tool
  22. pit — a hole
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. cold — the Cold War

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