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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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bark — to shout
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. tube — a container
  8. bound — obliged
  9. cold — an illness
  10. tube — the underground
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — to trim
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bound — tied together
  21. vault — a safe
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. bound — certain
  24. drill — the tool

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