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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. wound — an injury
  8. fork — in a road
  9. bark — to shout
  10. pitch — completely
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. band — a ring
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. race — the arms race
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. race — humankind
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. band — a music group
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. race — a contest

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