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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spring — of water
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. spring — the season
  7. ball — a great time
  8. object — an aim
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. wound — an injury
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bark — to shout
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. object — a thing
  19. object — to protest
  20. row — to paddle
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ball — a dance
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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