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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. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pit — in a race
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. pop — music
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. rash — hasty
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pit — a hole
  13. pop — soda
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. face — to point toward
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — a series
  19. shower — rain
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. pop — to visit
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. face — part of the head

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