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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. face — to confront
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pass — a permit
  5. club — for golf
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. spring — of water
  9. club — a group
  10. plane — a tool
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. face — to point toward
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — the season
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. face — part of the head
  22. bore — to tire
  23. bore — to drill
  24. cold — an illness

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