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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. mate — a friend
  7. rash — a series
  8. bark — to shout
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. mate — to breed
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. spring — the season
  13. spring — a coil
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. spring — of water
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rash — hasty
  19. mate — a partner
  20. band — a music group
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. cold — an illness
  24. branch — a division

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