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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 124 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. face — to confront
  3. march — music
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. spell — magic
  6. degree — from a university
  7. face — to point toward
  8. spell — a short time
  9. chip — for betting
  10. face — part of the head
  11. chip — to eat
  12. bark — to shout
  13. cell — in biology
  14. land — a country
  15. spell — letters
  16. degree — temperature
  17. land — to come down
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — an amount
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. march — the month
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. land — ground

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