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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 124 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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. spell — letters
  3. key — for a lock
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spell — a short time
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. bark — to shout
  10. club — for golf
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. club — a group
  13. spell — magic
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — in music
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. club — for dancing
  24. calf — a young animal

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