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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: wound · kid · race · lie · bark · net · rest · cap

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — child
  3. rest — what's left
  4. lie — to recline
  5. cap — a hat
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. race — a contest
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. net — after costs
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wound — an injury
  14. net — for catching
  15. cap — a lid
  16. net — in sport
  17. race — humankind
  18. cap — of ice
  19. race — the arms race
  20. rest — a break
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. rest — what's left
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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