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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. face — to confront
  4. content — happy
  5. row — a line
  6. season — of the year
  7. row — to paddle
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — to shout
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. face — part of the head
  12. wind — moving air
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. face — to point toward
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. season — in sport
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. content — the amount
  24. hide — to keep secret

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