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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: chair · bark · pit · hand · pitcher · fine · sharp · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bark — to shout
  3. hand — help
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pit — in a race
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pit — a hole
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. sharp — clever
  16. hand — in cards
  17. fine — all right
  18. fine — high quality
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. chair — a leader
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. sharp — exactly

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