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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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468
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: march · chip · kid · bark · band · face · season · rock

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. face — to confront
  3. band — a music group
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. season — in sport
  6. band — a ring
  7. chip — for betting
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. march — the month
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. kid — to tease
  14. face — part of the head
  15. chip — to eat
  16. rock — music
  17. face — to point toward
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. bark — to shout
  20. season — of the year
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. rock — a stone

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