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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. tube — a container
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. toast — bread
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. scale — in music
  10. scale — size or range
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. face — part of the head
  13. bark — to shout
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. cold — an illness
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. perch — the fish
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. tube — the underground
  23. cold — not warm
  24. face — to point toward

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