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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. face — to confront
  4. pit — a hole
  5. can — to be able to
  6. can — a tin
  7. face — to point toward
  8. swing — to play on
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. spell — letters
  11. shower — to wash
  12. spell — a short time
  13. shower — rain
  14. can — a tin
  15. swing — in golf
  16. pit — in a race
  17. swing — music
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. face — part of the head
  20. cold — an illness
  21. toast — bread
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spell — magic

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