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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: cold · land · tear · band · court · cue · bark · lean

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bark — to shout
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — of a king
  5. band — a ring
  6. cue — a signal
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. tear — from crying
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. court — for sport
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. band — a music group
  13. land — a country
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. court — of law
  16. lean — thin
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cue — a hint
  19. lean — to bend
  20. land — ground
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cue — for pool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. land — to come down

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