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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 116 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: lie · straw · bowl · bark · pitch · mine · cold · rest

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. bark — to shout
  5. rest — what's left
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cold — an illness
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. rest — a break
  11. pitch — completely
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. rest — what's left
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. lie — to recline
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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