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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. face — part of the head
  3. chair — a leader
  4. face — to confront
  5. cold — an illness
  6. hand — in cards
  7. court — for sport
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. hand — help
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. firm — decided
  14. face — to point toward
  15. fall — the season
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. court — of a king
  19. fall — to drop
  20. court — of law
  21. cold — not warm
  22. firm — steady
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. fall — to drop

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