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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  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. bark — to shout
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. stock — goods
  4. spring — of water
  5. march — the month
  6. spring — a coil
  7. face — to point toward
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. march — music
  10. spring — the season
  11. date — the fruit
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. face — to confront
  14. content — happy
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. sharp — clever
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. stock — shares
  19. march — the month
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. face — part of the head
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. content — the amount

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