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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 116 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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. degree — an amount
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. band — a music group
  8. degree — from a university
  9. content — happy
  10. face — part of the head
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — to point toward
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. content — the amount
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bat — the animal
  21. wax — to grow
  22. band — a ring
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. perch — the fish

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