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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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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 · kid · net · bark · wound · straw · game · race

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. net — for catching
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. face — to point toward
  11. kid — child
  12. game — a match
  13. race — a contest
  14. race — humankind
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bark — to shout
  17. net — in sport
  18. face — part of the head
  19. race — the arms race
  20. net — after costs
  21. face — to confront
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wound — an injury

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