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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. spring — the season
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. rule — a law
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bark — to shout
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. rule — government
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. bat — the animal

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