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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: net · wind · chest · pound · last · bark · straw · mug

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. mug — a cup
  5. last — final
  6. net — after costs
  7. wind — moving air
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — in sport
  10. mug — to rob
  11. last — finally
  12. wind — moving air
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. chest — of your body
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. bark — to shout
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. pound — a weight
  21. chest — a box
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. mug — a face
  24. last — to go on

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