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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: fine · kid · march · drill · cell · bark

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. bark — to shout
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — army training
  6. kid — child
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. march — the month
  10. march — the month
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. march — music
  13. cell — a phone
  14. fine — all right
  15. drill — the tool
  16. cell — in biology
  17. kid — to tease
  18. bark — of a tree

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