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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 · rule · wound · cue · hand · kid · field · bark

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. rule — government
  3. cue — for pool
  4. field — for sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — a box
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. cue — a hint
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cue — a signal
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. bark — to shout
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. kid — to tease
  17. hand — in cards
  18. kid — child
  19. wound — an injury
  20. hand — help
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. rule — a law
  24. rule — to rule out

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