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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. lean — to bend
  5. lean — thin
  6. bark — to shout
  7. can — to be able to
  8. can — a tin
  9. fine — all right
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. can — a tin
  13. wound — an injury
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. cold — not warm
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fine — high quality

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