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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. spring — of water
  4. rule — a law
  5. degree — temperature
  6. spring — a coil
  7. face — part of the head
  8. spring — the season
  9. track — a path
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. track — to keep track
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. face — to point toward
  14. rule — government
  15. track — a song
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount

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