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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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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: pit · swing · cold · march · bark · rest

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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 — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. pit — in a race
  5. rest — a break
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. swing — to play on
  9. rest — what's left
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. march — music
  12. swing — music
  13. pit — a hole
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. rest — what's left
  17. bark — to shout
  18. swing — in golf

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