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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. hand — in cards
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. spell — letters
  10. face — part of the head
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — an illness
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. spell — magic
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. face — to point toward
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. spell — a short time
  22. band — a ring
  23. pass — a permit
  24. band — a music group

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