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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 120 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 bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bank — for money
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bass — low music
  6. file — a line of people
  7. capital — a city
  8. bank — for money
  9. bass — the fish
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. bank — of a river
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — money
  18. bark — to shout
  19. clip — to cut
  20. face — part of the head
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. face — to confront

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