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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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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. root — of a word
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. band — a music group
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. face — part of the head
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wind — moving air
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cell — a phone
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. root — the cause
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. cell — in biology
  17. band — a ring
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — to wash
  20. face — to point toward
  21. cold — not warm
  22. root — of a plant
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — an illness

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