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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. march — music
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. root — the cause
  6. face — part of the head
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. net — after costs
  9. content — happy
  10. tube — a container
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. date — the fruit
  13. tube — the underground
  14. march — the month
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. root — of a plant
  17. root — of a word
  18. net — for catching
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. net — in sport
  21. march — the month
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. face — to point toward
  24. content — the amount

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