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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. degree — from a university
  6. cell — a phone
  7. face — to confront
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cell — in biology
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. face — part of the head
  16. bark — to shout
  17. degree — temperature
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. vault — a safe
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. mine — for digging
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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