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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. last — final
  3. row — a line
  4. face — to point toward
  5. club — for golf
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. face — to confront
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. face — part of the head
  10. rock — music
  11. content — happy
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. last — to go on
  14. rock — a stone
  15. last — finally
  16. club — a group
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — of water
  19. bark — to shout
  20. spring — the season
  21. club — for dancing
  22. row — to paddle
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. content — the amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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