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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: pound · wound · cold · field · calf · spring · rash · bark

  1. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spring — of water
  5. cold — an illness
  6. field — farmland
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. spring — a coil
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. field — for sport
  14. rash — a series
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. field — a subject
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pound — a weight
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. bark — to shout
  23. spring — the season
  24. pound — to hit hard

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