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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bark — to shout
  3. mug — a cup
  4. cap — of ice
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. last — finally
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cap — a hat
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. mug — a face
  11. mug — to rob
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cap — a lid
  14. last — to go on
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. land — a country
  19. last — final
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wake — a trail
  22. land — to come down
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. arm — part of the body

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