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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. rule — government
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pop — soda
  7. face — to point toward
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. march — music
  11. pop — music
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. march — the month
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. mine — for digging
  16. march — the month
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pop — to visit
  19. face — to confront
  20. date — the fruit
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. face — part of the head
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rule — a law

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