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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. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. track — to keep track
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. hand — in cards
  8. face — part of the head
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. face — to point toward
  11. prune — to trim
  12. track — a song
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. file — a line of people
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. hand — help
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. file — a tool
  21. fork — in a road
  22. file — a document
  23. track — a path
  24. prune — to trim

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