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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. last — finally
  3. face — part of the head
  4. degree — an amount
  5. bound — tied together
  6. last — to go on
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wax — to grow
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bound — certain
  14. pitch — completely
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bound — obliged
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. degree — from a university
  19. face — to point toward
  20. wind — moving air
  21. last — final
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. mine — an explosive

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