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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: field · kick · rule · bark · season · saw · ruler · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bark — to shout
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. field — for sport
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. field — farmland
  7. season — in sport
  8. season — of the year
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. kick — in football
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rule — government
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rule — a law
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. field — a subject

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