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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: cell · face · content · bark · pound · date · pass · pitcher

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. content — the amount
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. face — part of the head
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. content — happy
  8. date — the fruit
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. pound — a weight
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — to shout
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. face — to point toward
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. cell — a phone
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. cell — in biology
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. face — to confront
  24. pass — a permit

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