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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 120 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 room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. spring — the season
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. firm — a company
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. bound — obliged
  10. field — a subject
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. bound — certain
  13. firm — steady
  14. bark — to shout
  15. firm — decided
  16. field — farmland
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — for sport
  20. lie — to recline
  21. spring — a coil
  22. bound — tied together
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. spring — of water

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