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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. mine — for digging
  3. prune — to trim
  4. face — to point toward
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. march — the month
  8. object — a thing
  9. prune — to trim
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. tear — from crying
  12. object — to protest
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. object — an aim
  16. march — music
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. saw — the tool
  20. march — the month
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — to rip
  23. saw — the tool
  24. face — part of the head

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