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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: rule · hide · chest · field · bark · kid · last · wind

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. last — final
  4. wind — moving air
  5. last — finally
  6. kid — child
  7. bark — to shout
  8. chest — a box
  9. field — a subject
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. field — for sport
  12. last — to go on
  13. field — farmland
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. rule — government
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wind — moving air
  24. rule — a law

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