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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. rush — hurry
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. bark — to shout
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. face — to confront
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. face — part of the head
  16. lie — to recline
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. face — to point toward
  24. straw — dry grass

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