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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. face — to point toward
  5. swing — music
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. cold — an illness
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. cold — not warm
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — to play on
  14. bass — low music
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. bass — the fish
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. face — to confront
  22. bark — to shout
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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