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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mate · tear · rest · chest · bark · march

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. tear — from crying
  3. chest — of your body
  4. mate — a partner
  5. tear — from crying
  6. mate — to breed
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — a break
  9. bark — to shout
  10. chest — a box
  11. tear — to rip
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. mate — a friend
  15. rest — what's left
  16. chest — of your body
  17. march — the month
  18. bark — a dog's sound

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