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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: field · deal · straw · bark · cold · wind · club · stand

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stand — to bear
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — for sport
  8. cold — not warm
  9. deal — to handle
  10. field — farmland
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bark — to shout
  15. field — a subject
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. club — for dancing
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. club — a group
  24. club — for golf

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