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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. suit — in cards
  3. suit — to fit
  4. face — to confront
  5. plane — a tool
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. hand — in cards
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. face — part of the head
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. snap — to click
  14. face — to point toward
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. suit — clothes
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hand — help
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. degree — from a university
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. bark — to shout
  24. plane — an aircraft

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