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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. last — final
  3. cold — not warm
  4. key — the most important part
  5. cold — an illness
  6. key — in music
  7. bark — to shout
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. board — a committee
  10. last — to go on
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. key — for a lock
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. cap — of ice
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. cap — a hat
  20. cap — a lid
  21. board — to get on
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. cold — the Cold War

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