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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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Word bank
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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: vault · wave · bark · spring · tear · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tear — to rip
  4. spring — the season
  5. bark — to shout
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. tear — from crying
  16. vault — a safe
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. vault — an arched ceiling

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