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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cell — a phone
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. perch — the fish
  6. stock — goods
  7. rest — what's left
  8. face — to point toward
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. chest — of your body
  11. face — part of the head
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. cell — in biology
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spring — the season
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. spring — a coil
  19. stock — shares
  20. spring — of water
  21. rest — a break
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. rest — what's left

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