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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. sharp — clever
  3. rock — a stone
  4. fall — to drop
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. bark — to shout
  7. face — part of the head
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. fall — to drop
  14. shower — to wash
  15. face — to point toward
  16. degree — an amount
  17. bulb — for light
  18. face — to confront
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. degree — from a university
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fall — the season

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