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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. cold — an illness
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. face — to confront
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. board — to get on
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. board — a committee
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. spell — a short time
  15. face — part of the head
  16. spell — letters
  17. bat — the animal
  18. stock — goods
  19. scale — size or range
  20. stock — shares
  21. face — to point toward
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. spell — magic

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