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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: ball · ruler · mine · capital · cold · bark · field · bulb

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. field — farmland
  8. ball — a great time
  9. field — a subject
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. field — for sport
  17. bark — to shout
  18. capital — a city
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bulb — for light
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. capital — money
  24. bulb — for light

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