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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. plane — a tool
  4. face — to confront
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. kid — child
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — in sport
  12. bark — to shout
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. last — final
  15. face — to point toward
  16. chair — a leader
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. face — part of the head
  20. last — to go on
  21. net — after costs
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. last — finally

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