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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. bark — to shout
  6. face — part of the head
  7. march — the month
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. mine — for digging
  11. kid — child
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. face — to confront
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bat — the animal
  17. march — music
  18. kid — to tease
  19. march — the month
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. hide — animal skin

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