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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. club — for golf
  3. rush — hurry
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — to point toward
  7. face — part of the head
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. club — for dancing
  10. row — to paddle
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. race — the arms race
  18. race — a contest
  19. row — a line
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. cold — an illness
  22. club — a group
  23. cold — not warm
  24. race — humankind

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