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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: sharp · wake · chest · bark · perch · last · mine · kid

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. kid — child
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wake — a trail
  6. last — finally
  7. perch — the fish
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. chest — of your body
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. kid — to tease
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. last — to go on
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — a box
  23. bark — to shout
  24. sharp — clever

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