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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. saw — the tool
  3. cold — not warm
  4. last — final
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. lie — to recline
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. stand — to bear
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. saw — the tool
  13. field — a subject
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. last — finally
  20. last — to go on
  21. deal — to handle
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. bark — to shout

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