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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 water is too ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — the sport
  4. stem — to come from
  5. rash — hasty
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. pop — soda
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. pop — to visit
  12. face — part of the head
  13. squash — to crush
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. snap — to click
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. rash — a series
  20. pop — music
  21. face — to point toward
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rush — hurry
  24. stem — a stem cell

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