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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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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: bark · shower · key · swing · face · straw · kick · court

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. court — of law
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. face — to confront
  7. shower — rain
  8. bark — to shout
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. key — in music
  11. face — part of the head
  12. swing — in golf
  13. shower — to wash
  14. kick — in football
  15. court — of a king
  16. face — to point toward
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. swing — music
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. swing — to play on
  22. key — for a lock
  23. key — the most important part
  24. court — for sport

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