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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. rock — music
  3. spell — magic
  4. rock — a stone
  5. face — to point toward
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. mine — for digging
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. ground — crushed
  11. ground — a position
  12. chest — a box
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bark — to shout
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. spell — letters
  18. spell — a short time
  19. face — to confront
  20. chest — of your body
  21. ground — the earth
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. chest — of your body
  24. face — part of the head

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