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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. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. plane — a tool
  3. face — to point toward
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. chest — of your body
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. prune — to trim
  11. track — to keep track
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. track — a path
  14. face — to confront
  15. prune — to trim
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. face — part of the head
  22. chest — a box
  23. track — a song
  24. cold — the Cold War

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