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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: temple · mine · spring · toast · cold · wound · bark · mate

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. toast — bread
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — an illness
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. mate — a friend
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — to shout
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. spring — of water
  19. mate — to breed
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mate — a partner
  24. cold — not warm

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