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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. face — to point toward
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. branch — a division
  12. face — part of the head
  13. bark — to shout
  14. tube — the underground
  15. stock — shares
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. face — to confront
  19. stock — goods
  20. safe — a strongbox
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. mine — for digging
  23. tube — a container
  24. safe — out of danger

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