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

Word bank: cell · rest · lie · bark · cold · rule

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rule — government
  3. rest — a break
  4. rule — a law
  5. cell — a phone
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. rest — what's left
  8. bark — to shout
  9. rest — what's left
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison

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