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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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — a coil
  6. race — the arms race
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. bound — tied together
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. degree — an amount
  13. file — a tool
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bound — certain
  17. spring — the season
  18. file — a document
  19. degree — from a university
  20. race — a contest
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bark — to shout
  23. race — humankind
  24. bound — obliged

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