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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: rash · straw · bark · mine · capital · cabinet · club · cold

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. capital — money
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. club — for golf
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. club — a group
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — a series
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. club — for dancing
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. capital — a city
  24. mine — belonging to me

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