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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: wound · track · bark · net · kid · drill · spring · toast

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. wound — an injury
  3. drill — the tool
  4. spring — a coil
  5. track — a song
  6. drill — a practice
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. track — a path
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bark — to shout
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. net — in sport
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. drill — army training
  16. wound — an injury
  17. track — to keep track
  18. net — for catching
  19. kid — child
  20. net — after costs
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. spring — the season
  23. kid — to tease
  24. spring — of water

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