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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. cold — an illness
  3. tear — from crying
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bark — to shout
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — of water
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bound — certain
  11. field — farmland
  12. rest — what's left
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. spring — the season
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. wound — an injury
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. spring — a coil
  22. bound — tied together
  23. cold — not warm
  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