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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: mouse · season · land · spell · bark · court · sharp · cold

  1. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. sharp — clever
  4. spell — a short time
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. spell — letters
  10. land — to come down
  11. spell — magic
  12. bark — to shout
  13. land — a country
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. season — in sport
  18. season — of the year
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — of law
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. cold — not warm
  23. court — for sport
  24. land — ground

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