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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. face — to confront
  3. spring — the season
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. prune — to trim
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. wound — an injury
  13. lean — thin
  14. swing — in golf
  15. spring — of water
  16. lean — to bend
  17. face — part of the head
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. face — to point toward
  20. bark — to shout
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. swing — music
  23. pitch — completely
  24. spring — a coil

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