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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: bark · fan · kid · trunk · mine · mark · cold · perch

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. kid — to tease
  3. mine — for digging
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. perch — the fish
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. mark — a trace
  16. cold — not warm
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bark — to shout
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. mark — a grade
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. mine — an explosive

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