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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: bowl · wave · face · saw · coach · hand · kid · bark

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. kid — to tease
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. hand — help
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. face — to point toward
  16. face — to confront
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. saw — the tool
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. face — part of the head
  21. kid — child
  22. hand — in cards
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. bowl — a football final

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