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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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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. mate — a partner
  3. press — to push
  4. tear — from crying
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tear — to rip
  7. mate — to breed
  8. tear — from crying
  9. band — a ring
  10. band — a music group
  11. chest — a box
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. mate — a friend
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. race — the arms race
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. press — a publisher
  21. bark — to shout
  22. race — a contest
  23. press — newspapers
  24. race — humankind

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