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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: wound · straw · vault · bark · spell · bay · capital · tear

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. spell — letters
  3. bark — to shout
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wound — an injury
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. tear — from crying
  13. vault — a safe
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. capital — money
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. spell — a short time
  18. spell — magic
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. tear — to rip
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. tear — from crying
  23. capital — a city
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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