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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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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: hide · mine · pit · band · drill · race · bark · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bark — to shout
  4. pit — in a race
  5. pit — a hole
  6. band — a ring
  7. drill — the tool
  8. band — a music group
  9. race — a contest
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. cold — an illness
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. drill — army training
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. race — humankind
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cold — not warm
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. race — the arms race
  24. drill — a practice

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