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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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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: wake · fan · wound · chest · mug · mine · bark · land

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. mug — to rob
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. bark — to shout
  8. land — ground
  9. mug — a face
  10. wound — an injury
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. wound — an injury
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. land — a country
  18. mine — for digging
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. mug — a cup
  23. land — to come down
  24. wake — a trail

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