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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: cold · fall · present · stick · bowl · bark

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — to shout
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. fall — the season
  6. present — a gift
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. present — there
  13. fall — to drop
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. present — the time now
  18. cold — the Cold War

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