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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 120 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: season · cold · bark · chest · leaves · bound · hand · mug

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. mug — a cup
  4. hand — help
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bound — obliged
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mug — to rob
  9. season — in sport
  10. season — of the year
  11. bound — tied together
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mug — a face
  14. chest — a box
  15. bound — certain
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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