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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: wind · track · wake · staff · present · kid · cold · bark

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. track — a song
  3. track — a path
  4. present — there
  5. present — a gift
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wake — a trail
  10. present — the time now
  11. staff — employees
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. kid — child
  16. track — to keep track
  17. wind — moving air
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — a stick
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. kid — to tease

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