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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. face — to point toward
  4. fall — to drop
  5. key — for a lock
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. roll — a cake
  9. content — the amount
  10. fall — to drop
  11. shower — rain
  12. content — happy
  13. fall — the season
  14. shower — to wash
  15. key — the most important part
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. bat — the animal
  19. key — in music
  20. face — to confront
  21. face — part of the head
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. content — videos and posts

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