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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: kid · shower · cap · mouse · wind · bark · arm · last

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. cap — a hat
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. last — to go on
  5. shower — to wash
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wind — moving air
  9. last — final
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. shower — rain
  13. bark — to shout
  14. last — finally
  15. kid — child
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. cap — a lid
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wind — moving air
  24. mouse — the animal

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