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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. spring — of water
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. tear — from crying
  5. season — in sport
  6. spring — a coil
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. cold — an illness
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. face — part of the head
  11. spring — the season
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cold — not warm
  15. face — to point toward
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. season — of the year
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. tear — to rip
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. wound — an injury

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