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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: chest · craft · cold · straw · root · pitcher · bark · stand

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. stand — to bear
  3. craft — a skill
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. chest — of your body
  13. root — the cause
  14. chest — a box
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. craft — boats
  17. root — of a plant
  18. bark — to shout
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. root — of a word
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. chest — of your body

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