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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. degree — from a university
  3. pop — music
  4. chest — of your body
  5. degree — an amount
  6. pop — soda
  7. ball — a great time
  8. face — to confront
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cap — of ice
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. scale — in music
  13. ball — a dance
  14. face — part of the head
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. face — to point toward
  18. chest — a box
  19. lie — to recline
  20. cap — a hat
  21. scale — size or range
  22. pop — to visit
  23. chest — of your body
  24. lie — an untruth

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