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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. bark — to shout
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. track — to keep track
  12. net — for catching
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. net — in sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. face — to confront
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. face — part of the head
  21. face — to point toward
  22. track — a path
  23. chest — a box
  24. net — after costs

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