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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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. face — to point toward
  4. game — a match
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. game — wild animals
  8. track — a path
  9. jam — in traffic
  10. foot — a measure
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. face — part of the head
  14. wind — moving air
  15. track — to keep track
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — of water
  23. cold — an illness
  24. track — a song

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