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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — a country
  7. current — happening now
  8. land — ground
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. prune — to trim
  12. current — electric
  13. current — of water
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hide — animal skin

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