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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. face — to point toward
  3. face — to confront
  4. cold — an illness
  5. club — for golf
  6. wound — an injury
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. club — a group
  9. net — for catching
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — size or range
  12. net — after costs
  13. face — part of the head
  14. net — in sport
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. club — for dancing
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. scale — in music
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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