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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 120 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: bark · shower · mine · wound · last · wind · bear · mate

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mate — to breed
  4. bear — the animal
  5. mate — a partner
  6. last — to go on
  7. last — final
  8. shower — rain
  9. bark — to shout
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. mine — for digging
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — moving air
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. shower — to wash
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. mate — a friend
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wound — an injury
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. bear — the animal

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