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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 116 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: mine · bark · spell · bat · wound · land · stem · ground

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. spell — magic
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. ground — a position
  5. land — a country
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. bark — to shout
  8. land — ground
  9. wound — an injury
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. stem — to come from
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bat — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. land — to come down
  21. ground — crushed
  22. mine — for digging
  23. ground — the earth
  24. spell — letters

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