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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: cold · trunk · perch · nail · race · pound · dip · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — the fish
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. face — to point toward
  12. pound — a weight
  13. race — the arms race
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. face — part of the head
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. dip — to sink
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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