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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — an illness
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. degree — an amount
  6. net — after costs
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cold — not warm
  9. face — to point toward
  10. swing — in golf
  11. swing — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. degree — temperature
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. degree — from a university
  16. net — in sport
  17. kick — in football
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. net — for catching
  20. saw — the tool
  21. face — part of the head
  22. saw — the tool
  23. swing — to play on
  24. stem — a stem cell

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