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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: cold · calf · mine · bowl · bark · wound · cell · court

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bark — to shout
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mine — for digging
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. court — of a king
  16. cold — not warm
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cell — a phone
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of law
  22. cell — in biology
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. wound — an injury

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