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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bear — the animal
  5. face — part of the head
  6. face — to point toward
  7. band — a music group
  8. key — for a lock
  9. clip — a video
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. key — in music
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. chair — a leader
  15. clip — to cut
  16. degree — temperature
  17. band — a ring
  18. stock — shares
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. clip — for paper
  21. degree — an amount
  22. stock — goods
  23. bear — the animal
  24. key — the most important part

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