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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: wound · bark · swing · kid · nail · saw · net · row

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. saw — the tool
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bark — to shout
  8. swing — in golf
  9. saw — the tool
  10. wound — an injury
  11. net — after costs
  12. kid — child
  13. swing — to play on
  14. swing — music
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. row — a line
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. net — in sport
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. wound — an injury
  21. net — for catching
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. row — to paddle

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