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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 120 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: game · bat · bark · hide · rash · patient · mark · spring

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. spring — of water
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. spring — the season
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mark — a trace
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. spring — a coil
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. rash — a series
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. bark — to shout
  14. game — a match
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. rash — hasty
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. bat — the animal
  20. mark — a grade
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — wild animals

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