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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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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: kid · pound · chest · fan · tear · bark · cue · wake

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. cue — a signal
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. chest — a box
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. cue — a hint
  15. tear — from crying
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail
  19. pound — a weight
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cue — for pool
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. kid — to tease
  24. fan — to cool the air

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