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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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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: cold · mine · bound · face · bark · cap · tear · chair

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bound — obliged
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. face — to point toward
  7. mine — for digging
  8. bound — certain
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. face — to confront
  13. cold — an illness
  14. face — part of the head
  15. chair — a leader
  16. bound — tied together
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cap — a lid
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cap — of ice
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. chair — to sit on

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