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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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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 · club · last · stick · game · race · bark · ground

  1. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. last — final
  3. ground — a position
  4. last — finally
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. cold — not warm
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. club — a group
  12. race — the arms race
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — to go on
  16. race — humankind
  17. club — for dancing
  18. race — a contest
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. ground — the earth
  21. club — for golf
  22. game — wild animals
  23. game — a match
  24. bark — to shout

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