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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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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: stick · file · bark · face · rock · bat · cell · last

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. rock — music
  3. file — a tool
  4. cell — a phone
  5. face — to point toward
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. face — to confront
  9. last — to go on
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. file — a line of people
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. face — part of the head
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. file — a document
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. cell — in biology
  19. last — final
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bark — to shout
  22. rock — a stone
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. cell — in a prison

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