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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: spring · bark · track · wake · temple · cold · content · drill

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. track — a path
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. track — a song
  7. content — happy
  8. track — to keep track
  9. bark — to shout
  10. spring — of water
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. drill — army training
  13. drill — a practice
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. spring — the season
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. drill — the tool
  21. spring — a coil
  22. content — the amount
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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