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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. rock — a stone
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. face — to point toward
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. face — part of the head
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. wind — moving air
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wind — moving air
  19. rock — music
  20. land — ground
  21. dip — to sink
  22. land — a country
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. land — to come down

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