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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — the season
  4. cold — not warm
  5. court — for sport
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. last — to go on
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. lie — to recline
  10. face — to point toward
  11. fall — to drop
  12. face — to confront
  13. rash — hasty
  14. last — finally
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. court — of law
  18. rash — a series
  19. cold — an illness
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. court — of a king
  22. last — final
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. lie — an untruth

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