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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. field — farmland
  5. board — a committee
  6. bark — to shout
  7. field — for sport
  8. spring — a coil
  9. fine — high quality
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. shower — to wash
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. field — a subject
  16. bulb — for light
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. spring — of water
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fine — all right
  21. shower — rain
  22. bulb — for light
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. board — to get on

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