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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: face · row · capital · arm · bark · game · shower · rash

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. face — to confront
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. bark — to shout
  5. game — wild animals
  6. row — a line
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. rash — hasty
  12. row — to paddle
  13. face — part of the head
  14. capital — money
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. shower — to wash
  18. face — to point toward
  19. game — a match
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. capital — a city
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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