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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fall · snap · bark · race · tear · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fall — to drop
  3. tear — from crying
  4. race — humankind
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. race — the arms race
  7. tear — to rip
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. fall — to drop
  10. tear — from crying
  11. fall — the season
  12. snap — to click
  13. bark — to shout
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. race — a contest
  18. bark — a dog's sound

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