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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: pitcher · straw · bark · fork · cold · season · chest · capital

  1. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. bark — to shout
  4. chest — a box
  5. season — of the year
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cold — an illness
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — a city
  12. cold — not warm
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. fork — in a road
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chest — of your body
  19. capital — money
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. chest — of your body
  24. season — to add flavour

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