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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. degree — from a university
  3. spell — a short time
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. face — to point toward
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. ball — a dance
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. pitch — completely
  12. spell — magic
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. spell — letters
  15. face — part of the head
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cold — an illness
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rush — hurry
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. degree — an 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