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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 124 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. root — of a word
  3. kid — child
  4. race — a contest
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a ring
  10. race — the arms race
  11. band — a music group
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. bark — to shout
  14. kid — to tease
  15. dip — to sink
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. shower — rain
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. shower — to wash
  20. root — of a plant
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. race — humankind
  24. root — the cause

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