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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mate · capital · straw · kid · club · bark

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. kid — child
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. club — for dancing
  7. capital — a city
  8. mate — a partner
  9. bark — to shout
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. mate — to breed
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — money
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. club — for golf
  18. club — a group

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