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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: bark · object · stock · cold · wound · chair · spring · mine

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spring — the season
  5. object — an aim
  6. stock — shares
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. spring — of water
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. object — to protest
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. chair — a leader
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stock — goods
  22. object — a thing
  23. bark — to shout
  24. spring — a coil

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