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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 120 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 had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. row — a line
  7. march — the month
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. bass — low music
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. march — music
  14. rush — hurry
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bass — the fish
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. face — to confront
  22. march — the month
  23. row — to paddle
  24. fan — a supporter

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