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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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Word bank
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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: hand · pound · row · bark · chest · sharp · press · kid

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. hand — help
  3. bark — to shout
  4. row — a line
  5. chest — a box
  6. kid — to tease
  7. hand — in cards
  8. kid — child
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. row — to paddle
  12. press — newspapers
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. press — a publisher
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. chest — of your body
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. sharp — clever
  22. press — to push
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. chest — of your body

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