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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: board · bear · wound · bat · field · shower · bark · hand

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bear — the animal
  6. board — a committee
  7. field — farmland
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. shower — rain
  12. bark — to shout
  13. field — for sport
  14. bear — the animal
  15. field — a subject
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. board — to get on
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bat — the animal

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