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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. content — happy
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. tear — from crying
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. face — to point toward
  10. face — to confront
  11. tear — from crying
  12. dip — to sink
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. field — a subject
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. field — for sport
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. field — farmland
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. face — part of the head
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. bark — to shout

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