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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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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: cold · wind · chest · bark · mouse · season · safe · tear

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bark — to shout
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. season — in sport
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chest — of your body
  11. tear — from crying
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. chest — a box
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. cold — not warm
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. mouse — for a computer

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