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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 · straw · tube · ruler · wound · cold · bank · field

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bank — of a river
  8. bark — to shout
  9. tube — a container
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. field — for sport
  14. bank — for money
  15. wound — an injury
  16. field — a subject
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. bank — for money
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. wound — an injury
  21. field — farmland
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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