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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 · wind · ground · roll · mouse · cold · pitch · capital

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. ground — the earth
  6. capital — a city
  7. roll — a cake
  8. capital — money
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. bark — to shout
  12. ground — a position
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wind — moving air
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. roll — a list
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. pitch — completely
  24. wind — moving air

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