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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. last — to go on
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. last — final
  5. bark — to shout
  6. tear — from crying
  7. net — after costs
  8. last — finally
  9. face — to confront
  10. tear — to rip
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. tear — from crying
  14. row — a line
  15. face — to point toward
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. net — in sport
  18. march — the month
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. net — for catching
  21. march — music
  22. march — the month
  23. face — part of the head
  24. row — to paddle

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