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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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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: bark · hand · date · net · snap · game · kid · season

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. net — after costs
  9. season — in sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. kid — to tease
  12. hand — help
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. game — wild animals
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. date — the fruit
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. kid — child
  19. season — of the year
  20. snap — to click
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. net — in sport
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. game — a match

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