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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 124 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. object — to protest
  3. face — to confront
  4. band — a ring
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. object — a thing
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. face — part of the head
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. face — to point toward
  11. stock — goods
  12. bark — to shout
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. clip — to cut
  17. object — an aim
  18. clip — for paper
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — a video
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. band — a music group

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