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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. face — to confront
  6. sharp — clever
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bore — to tire
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bore — to drill
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mate — a partner
  18. mate — a friend
  19. branch — a division
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. face — to point toward
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. mate — to breed
  24. bark — to shout

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