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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: cold · bark · mark · firm · wound · current · kid · mine

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mark — a trace
  6. current — of water
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. cold — not warm
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bark — to shout
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. firm — decided
  18. firm — a company
  19. current — electric
  20. kid — child
  21. mark — a grade
  22. firm — steady
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. current — happening now

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