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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: ground · bark · march · pitcher · kick · wound · cold · jam

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. march — the month
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. ground — the earth
  8. wound — an injury
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. ground — a position
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. bark — to shout
  15. kick — in football
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — crushed
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. march — music
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. march — the month
  24. wound — an injury

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