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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: court · sharp · band · spring · bark · straw · wind · drill

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. sharp — clever
  4. court — for sport
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. court — of law
  7. band — a music group
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. band — a ring
  10. drill — a practice
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. drill — army training
  14. spring — a coil
  15. court — of a king
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. drill — the tool
  20. spring — the season
  21. bark — to shout
  22. spring — of water
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. straw — dry grass

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