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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. face — part of the head
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spring — a coil
  5. file — a tool
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. band — a ring
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. kid — to tease
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. bark — to shout
  15. spring — the season
  16. face — to point toward
  17. file — a document
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. face — to confront
  20. file — a line of people
  21. spring — of water
  22. kid — child
  23. band — a music group
  24. fork — in a road

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