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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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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: game · cold · scale · mate · tear · bark · mouse · leaves

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. scale — size or range
  5. tear — from crying
  6. mate — a partner
  7. cold — an illness
  8. tear — to rip
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. game — a match
  15. scale — in music
  16. cold — not warm
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. tear — from crying
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bark — to shout
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mate — a friend

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