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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — to shout
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. net — in sport
  6. cell — in biology
  7. net — after costs
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. cold — an illness
  10. net — for catching
  11. face — to point toward
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. face — to confront
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. toast — bread
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. cold — not warm
  22. face — part of the head
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. cell — a phone

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