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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: current · band · bat · content · bark · face · tear · spring

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. face — part of the head
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. spring — the season
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. tear — to rip
  11. band — a music group
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. content — happy
  14. current — of water
  15. face — to confront
  16. current — electric
  17. band — a ring
  18. content — the amount
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. current — happening now
  22. face — to point toward
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — of water

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