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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: rule · hide · chest · field · bark · kid

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. chest — of your body
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. kid — to tease
  9. chest — of your body
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. rule — government
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. chest — a box
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. field — for sport
  17. kid — child
  18. rule — a law

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