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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: key · straw · bulb · cold · mark · mine · bark · wind

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. bulb — for light
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — moving air
  12. mark — a trace
  13. key — in music
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. bark — to shout
  18. key — the most important part
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bulb — for light
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mark — a grade

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