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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pass — a permit
  4. row — a line
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. face — to point toward
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. face — to confront
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bark — to shout
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — of water
  19. face — part of the head
  20. chest — of your body
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. chest — a box
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bat — in an idiom

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