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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: game · patient · bore · cell · snap · bear · kid · bark

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. bark — to shout
  3. game — a match
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — child
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. kid — to tease
  12. bore — to drill
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. snap — to click
  16. bore — to tire
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bear — the animal
  22. cell — in biology
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. cell — in a prison

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