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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  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. cold — the Cold War
  2. band — a ring
  3. spring — of water
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. last — finally
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. stem — to come from
  11. band — a music group
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. spring — a coil
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spring — the season
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — not warm
  23. last — final
  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