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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: cabinet · arm · fork · cold · bore · bark · hand · bat

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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. bore — to tire
  4. hand — in cards
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. bore — to drill
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. hand — help
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. fork — in a road
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. bat — in an idiom

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