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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. face — part of the head
  3. track — a path
  4. game — a match
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. spell — magic
  7. track — a song
  8. rest — what's left
  9. wound — an injury
  10. file — a document
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wound — an injury
  14. file — a tool
  15. spell — letters
  16. track — to keep track
  17. spell — a short time
  18. rest — what's left
  19. file — a line of people
  20. bat — the animal
  21. rest — a break
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. face — to confront

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