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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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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: bass · bark · swing · face · nail · court · tube · date

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. face — to confront
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. court — for sport
  7. swing — to play on
  8. court — of law
  9. date — the fruit
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bass — low music
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. tube — the underground
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. swing — in golf
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bass — the fish
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. court — of a king
  21. tube — a container
  22. face — part of the head
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. swing — music

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