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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: cold · key · kid · bark · pound · arm · rash · prune

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. key — the most important part
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. rash — a series
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — to tease
  10. key — in music
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. key — for a lock
  15. cold — an illness
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bark — to shout
  20. rash — hasty
  21. prune — to trim
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. rash — on the skin

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