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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. mug — to rob
  3. mug — a face
  4. net — after costs
  5. ground — a position
  6. face — to confront
  7. ground — the earth
  8. last — to go on
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mug — a cup
  11. scale — size or range
  12. season — of the year
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. last — finally
  15. scale — in music
  16. ground — crushed
  17. net — in sport
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. face — to point toward
  20. cold — an illness
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. face — part of the head
  23. season — in sport
  24. net — for catching

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