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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — an illness
  5. club — for dancing
  6. club — for golf
  7. club — a group
  8. spring — the season
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. spring — a coil
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. mine — for digging
  15. spring — of water
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — not warm
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. bark — to shout
  23. branch — a division
  24. foot — 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