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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. deal — to handle
  4. spring — of water
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bat — the animal
  9. face — part of the head
  10. cold — an illness
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. spring — the season
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bark — to shout
  16. pitch — completely
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. face — to confront
  20. face — to point toward
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. perch — the fish
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bark — of a tree

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