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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 116 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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. spring — of water
  4. branch — a division
  5. band — a music group
  6. bat — the animal
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. drill — a practice
  11. band — a ring
  12. face — to point toward
  13. drill — army training
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. face — part of the head
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. drill — the tool

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