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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 120 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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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: land · bear · spring · tear · bark · snap · prune · face

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bear — the animal
  3. prune — to trim
  4. land — to come down
  5. bark — to shout
  6. face — to point toward
  7. spring — the season
  8. tear — to rip
  9. face — part of the head
  10. bear — the animal
  11. land — ground
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. face — to confront
  21. land — a country
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. snap — to click

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