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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stem — to come from
  3. face — to confront
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. face — part of the head
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. ball — a dance
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. drill — the tool
  14. drill — army training
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — the animal
  18. face — to point toward
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. bark — to shout
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. ball — a great time

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