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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. net — after costs
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. net — for catching
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. cold — not warm
  9. net — in sport
  10. face — to point toward
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. sharp — clever
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — a box
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. face — part of the head
  19. roll — a cake
  20. roll — a list
  21. chest — of your body
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. plane — a tool
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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