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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: pop · wind · club · mouse · saw · cold · bark · march

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pop — to visit
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. club — for golf
  10. march — music
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. pop — music
  16. club — for dancing
  17. bark — to shout
  18. saw — the tool
  19. wind — moving air
  20. club — a group
  21. march — the month
  22. pop — soda
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. march — the month

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