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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bear — the animal
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. land — to come down
  6. swing — to play on
  7. face — part of the head
  8. bear — the animal
  9. chest — of your body
  10. land — ground
  11. cold — not warm
  12. face — to confront
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — in golf
  15. land — a country
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. can — a tin
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chest — a box
  21. can — a tin
  22. face — to point toward
  23. cold — an illness
  24. can — to be able to

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