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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. object — to protest
  5. cue — a signal
  6. cue — a hint
  7. row — a line
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. file — a line of people
  10. face — part of the head
  11. game — a match
  12. file — a tool
  13. face — to confront
  14. shower — rain
  15. kick — in football
  16. row — to paddle
  17. shower — to wash
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. object — a thing
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cue — for pool
  22. object — an aim
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. file — a document

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