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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: race · bark · season · cold · key · spring · arm · mine

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  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. mine — an explosive
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. race — humankind
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. key — the most important part
  7. cold — not warm
  8. race — the arms race
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. spring — of water
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. season — in sport
  16. bark — to shout
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. season — of the year
  19. spring — a coil
  20. key — for a lock
  21. spring — the season
  22. key — in music
  23. race — a contest
  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