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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 · wound · fall · spring · tear · arm · land · hand

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  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. arm — part of the body
  2. fall — to drop
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. tear — to rip
  5. spring — a coil
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wound — an injury
  8. hand — help
  9. land — to come down
  10. bark — to shout
  11. land — a country
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. fall — to drop
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. land — ground
  17. wound — an injury
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. fall — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — the season
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tear — from crying
  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