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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: pound · temple · cold · wave · bulb · squash · bat · bark

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. squash — the sport
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bulb — for light
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. squash — to crush
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. bulb — for light
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. cold — not warm
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bat — for baseball

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