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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: tube · spring · mug · stem · bark · cold · wake · track

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. track — a song
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mug — a cup
  7. tube — the underground
  8. tube — a container
  9. spring — of water
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. spring — a coil
  13. track — to keep track
  14. mug — a face
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. stem — to come from
  18. track — a path
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wake — a trail
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. mug — to rob
  24. stem — a stem cell

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