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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 120 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: shower · wound · mine · sharp · squash · court · bark · rest

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. rest — what's left
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. shower — to wash
  7. squash — to crush
  8. bark — to shout
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — the sport
  11. court — of law
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. shower — rain
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. rest — a break
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. wound — an injury
  19. court — of a king
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. rest — what's left
  22. court — for sport
  23. sharp — clever
  24. mine — for digging

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