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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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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: bark · march · staff · foot · cold · mine · shower · sharp

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. shower — to wash
  3. staff — employees
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. cold — an illness
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. mine — for digging
  14. staff — a stick
  15. foot — a measure
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. march — the month
  19. staff — employees
  20. shower — rain
  21. march — the month
  22. bark — to shout
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. cold — not warm

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