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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 ________________ took off on time.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. chest — of your body
  3. tear — from crying
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. land — ground
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. bark — to shout
  8. chest — of your body
  9. squash — to crush
  10. face — to confront
  11. squash — the sport
  12. face — to point toward
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. face — part of the head
  15. rock — a stone
  16. chest — a box
  17. tear — from crying
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. land — to come down
  20. tear — to rip
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. land — a country
  23. plane — a tool
  24. rock — music

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