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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: cell · bark · stem · wind · row · content · kid · rash

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — a series
  3. bark — to shout
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. wind — moving air
  7. row — a line
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. kid — child
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. wind — moving air
  12. content — happy
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. stem — to come from
  16. cell — a phone
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. kid — to tease
  20. content — the amount
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. row — to paddle
  24. cell — in biology

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