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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: march · temple · cue · bat · kid · press · bark · row

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. press — a publisher
  3. row — to paddle
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. kid — to tease
  7. march — music
  8. bat — the animal
  9. kid — child
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. march — the month
  12. march — the month
  13. row — a line
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. press — newspapers
  20. cue — for pool
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. press — to push
  23. cue — a hint
  24. cue — a signal

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