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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: kick · row · kid · bound · bark · drill · tear · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. drill — army training
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bound — tied together
  11. row — a line
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. kid — child
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. drill — the tool
  21. bound — certain
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. row — to paddle
  24. kick — in football

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