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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — to crush
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. face — part of the head
  6. game — a match
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. face — to point toward
  10. face — to confront
  11. fall — the season
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. shower — rain
  16. fall — to drop
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. tear — to rip
  21. fall — to drop
  22. shower — to wash
  23. lie — to recline
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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