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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.

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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 light ________________ burned out.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. press — a publisher
  6. bulb — for light
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. face — part of the head
  9. press — to push
  10. scale — size or range
  11. cold — an illness
  12. rock — music
  13. tear — from crying
  14. face — to point toward
  15. scale — in music
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tear — to rip
  18. hand — in cards
  19. press — newspapers
  20. rock — a stone
  21. tear — from crying
  22. hand — help
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. hand — part of the body

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