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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: cold · key · wake · root · mark · bark · wind · drill

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. key — for a lock
  3. wake — a trail
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. mark — a trace
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. wind — moving air
  8. drill — the tool
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mark — a grade
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. drill — army training
  16. bark — to shout
  17. key — the most important part
  18. cold — an illness
  19. root — of a plant
  20. drill — a practice
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. key — in music
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — the cause

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