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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: bark · drill · band · bat · face · court · tube · sharp

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. band — a ring
  3. bark — to shout
  4. face — part of the head
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. bat — the animal
  8. drill — army training
  9. band — a music group
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. court — of law
  13. sharp — clever
  14. tube — a container
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. drill — the tool
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — for sport
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. face — to point toward
  22. drill — a practice
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. face — to confront

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