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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. face — part of the head
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. bark — to shout
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ground — the earth
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. kick — in football
  11. ground — a position
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — for sport
  16. ground — crushed
  17. plane — a tool
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. field — a subject
  22. face — to point toward
  23. field — farmland
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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