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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spring — of water
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. season — of the year
  12. spring — the season
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. last — finally
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. bark — to shout
  18. game — wild animals
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. game — a match
  21. spring — a coil
  22. last — to go on
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. last — final

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