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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. game — a match
  3. face — to point toward
  4. kick — in football
  5. bark — to shout
  6. face — part of the head
  7. shower — to wash
  8. face — to confront
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. tear — from crying
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. shower — rain
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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