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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 · board · hide · object · cold · file · bound · coach

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. bound — obliged
  4. object — a thing
  5. file — a document
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bark — to shout
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. board — to get on
  14. object — an aim
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. board — a committee
  17. bound — certain
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bound — tied together
  21. file — a tool
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. file — a line of people

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