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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: face · degree · cell · shower · wake · bark · coach · ball

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. ball — a dance
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. degree — temperature
  8. ball — a great time
  9. wake — a trail
  10. cell — in biology
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. face — part of the head
  14. shower — rain
  15. degree — from a university
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. bark — to shout
  18. face — to confront
  19. cell — a phone
  20. degree — an amount
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. shower — to wash

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