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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. last — final
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. land — a country
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. march — the month
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. last — finally
  10. face — part of the head
  11. march — the month
  12. face — to point toward
  13. land — to come down
  14. track — to keep track
  15. game — a match
  16. track — a song
  17. chair — a leader
  18. game — wild animals
  19. last — to go on
  20. march — music
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. land — ground
  23. face — to confront
  24. chair — to sit on

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