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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. can — a tin
  3. spell — letters
  4. root — of a word
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. last — finally
  9. wake — a trail
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. root — of a plant
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. spell — a short time
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. spell — magic
  16. last — to go on
  17. root — the cause
  18. last — final
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a match
  22. can — a tin
  23. can — to be able to
  24. face — to point toward

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