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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. face — to confront
  3. last — to go on
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. cell — in biology
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. band — a ring
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — hasty
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. face — part of the head
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. cold — an illness
  16. band — a music group
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. track — a song
  20. last — final
  21. face — to point toward
  22. track — a path
  23. track — to keep track
  24. last — finally

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