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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. fine — all right
  3. hand — help
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. hand — in cards
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. band — a music group
  10. lean — thin
  11. band — a ring
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. bark — to shout
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. lean — to bend
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fine — high quality
  24. wound — an injury

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