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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. lean — to bend
  3. row — a line
  4. tube — the underground
  5. face — part of the head
  6. plane — a tool
  7. bark — to shout
  8. lean — thin
  9. face — to confront
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. ground — the earth
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. tube — a container
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. ground — a position
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. ground — crushed
  21. march — the month
  22. march — music
  23. row — to paddle
  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