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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: tube · pound · game · patient · cold · bark · pitcher · bay

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. tube — the underground
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. tube — a container
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — not warm
  12. game — wild animals
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cold — an illness
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. pound — a weight

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