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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 116 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: mine · pass · clip · cold · bore · bark · ground · ball

  1. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. cold — an illness
  4. ground — crushed
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bark — to shout
  7. ground — the earth
  8. ball — a great time
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. mine — for digging
  11. bore — to tire
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bore — to drill
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ground — a position
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. ball — a dance
  19. clip — for paper
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. clip — a video
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cold — not warm

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