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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. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. face — to point toward
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. bark — to shout
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. date — the fruit
  9. net — after costs
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. fine — all right
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. face — to confront
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. capital — a city
  19. face — part of the head
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. net — in sport
  22. fine — high quality
  23. capital — money
  24. net — for catching

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