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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 · pitcher · cue · saw · snap · roll · cold · chest

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. cold — an illness
  6. roll — a list
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. roll — a cake
  10. cue — a hint
  11. cue — for pool
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cue — a signal
  15. snap — to click
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. chest — a box
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. saw — the tool
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. saw — the tool
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. bark — to shout

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