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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: cold · mouse · object · spring · pitcher · bark · chest · tear

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — an illness
  6. spring — a coil
  7. tear — from crying
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. object — an aim
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — to shout
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. object — a thing
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. chest — of your body
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. chest — a box
  23. tear — from crying
  24. object — to protest

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