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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 116 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  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. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — from a university
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bark — to shout
  6. game — wild animals
  7. face — part of the head
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. rash — a series
  10. face — to point toward
  11. shower — to wash
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. game — a match
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. degree — an amount
  17. rash — hasty
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. shower — rain
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. face — to confront
  22. degree — temperature
  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