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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. kid — child
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fork — in a road
  10. kid — to tease
  11. degree — an amount
  12. degree — from a university
  13. fine — all right
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. season — in sport
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. face — part of the head
  19. season — of the year
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. face — to point toward
  22. fine — high quality
  23. degree — temperature
  24. season — to add flavour

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