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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 120 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: perch · mug · cold · mine · land · sharp · tube · bark

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. perch — the fish
  3. mine — for digging
  4. mug — a cup
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. tube — a container
  8. cold — not warm
  9. tube — the underground
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. land — ground
  13. sharp — clever
  14. land — to come down
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — a country
  17. mug — a face
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — to shout
  21. mug — to rob
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. perch — for a bird

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