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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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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: swing · bark · band · mate · lash · cold · rock · land

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. band — a music group
  5. rock — music
  6. cold — an illness
  7. band — a ring
  8. rock — a stone
  9. mate — a partner
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. land — a country
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. mate — a friend
  14. mate — to breed
  15. swing — to play on
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — music
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bark — of a tree

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