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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: bark · fall · ground · stand · band · cold · cap · ball

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cap — a lid
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — crushed
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. fall — to drop
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. stand — to bear
  18. ball — a great time
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fall — the season
  23. band — a music group
  24. cap — a hat

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