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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. bark — to shout
  3. wax — to grow
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. face — to point toward
  8. cell — a phone
  9. face — to confront
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cap — a hat
  16. pitch — completely
  17. cap — of ice
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. face — part of the head
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cap — a lid
  24. squash — the vegetable

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