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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: drill · bark · root · race · cold · face · tube · mate

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. cold — not warm
  3. race — humankind
  4. face — to confront
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. tube — the underground
  7. root — of a plant
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mate — a friend
  10. race — the arms race
  11. drill — the tool
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bark — to shout
  14. face — to point toward
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. tube — a container
  17. mate — a partner
  18. mate — to breed
  19. race — a contest
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. root — the cause
  22. drill — a practice
  23. root — of a word
  24. drill — army training

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