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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 124 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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. chest — of your body
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. prune — to trim
  5. rash — a series
  6. swing — music
  7. face — to confront
  8. prune — to trim
  9. swing — to play on
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. face — part of the head
  13. land — to come down
  14. rash — hasty
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. face — to point toward
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. swing — in golf
  20. chest — a box
  21. land — a country
  22. bark — to shout
  23. land — ground
  24. rash — on the skin

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