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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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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: land · rule · spell · vault · cold · row · bark · patient

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. vault — a safe
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. spell — letters
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. row — to paddle
  7. land — to come down
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. cold — not warm
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — an illness
  13. row — a line
  14. land — ground
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. rule — government
  18. spell — a short time
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. rule — a law
  22. land — a country
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. spell — magic

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