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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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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: bark · band · net · track · cap · tear · game · last

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cap — a lid
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. net — in sport
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cap — of ice
  7. last — final
  8. game — a match
  9. track — a path
  10. game — wild animals
  11. tear — to rip
  12. cap — a hat
  13. tear — from crying
  14. net — for catching
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. last — to go on
  17. bark — to shout
  18. last — finally
  19. band — a music group
  20. net — after costs
  21. band — a ring
  22. track — to keep track
  23. track — a song
  24. bark — of a tree

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