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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: kid · hand · bore · club · wind · bat · straw · bark

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — to shout
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. bat — the animal
  8. hand — help
  9. club — for dancing
  10. club — for golf
  11. bore — to drill
  12. club — a group
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bore — to tire
  15. wind — moving air
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. wind — moving air
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. hand — part of the body

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