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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 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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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. rest — a break
  4. race — humankind
  5. bark — to shout
  6. date — the fruit
  7. rest — what's left
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. race — a contest
  10. field — for sport
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. field — a subject
  13. race — the arms race
  14. field — farmland
  15. hand — in cards
  16. hand — help
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mark — a trace
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rest — what's left
  24. mark — a grade

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