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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 116 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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. plane — a tool
  7. ground — a position
  8. ball — a dance
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. tear — to rip
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — to shout
  15. mine — for digging
  16. ground — crushed
  17. ball — a great time
  18. tear — from crying
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. ground — the earth
  24. racket — a loud noise

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