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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: face · cold · jam · bark · row · swing · chair · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bark — to shout
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — a line
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. face — part of the head
  8. swing — music
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — to point toward
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cold — an illness
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. swing — to play on
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. swing — in golf
  22. chair — a leader
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. jam — a tight spot

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