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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. face — part of the head
  3. bark — to shout
  4. face — to point toward
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. fall — to drop
  7. capital — a city
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — happy
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cue — a hint
  13. cue — a signal
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. capital — money
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. cue — for pool
  21. fall — the season
  22. cold — not warm
  23. face — to confront
  24. fan — a supporter

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