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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: nail · band · craft · chest · bark · march · face · tear

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. chest — a box
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. band — a ring
  6. tear — from crying
  7. craft — boats
  8. bark — to shout
  9. march — music
  10. chest — of your body
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. march — the month
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. face — part of the head
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. band — a music group
  19. march — the month
  20. face — to point toward
  21. craft — a skill
  22. chest — of your body
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. tear — from crying

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