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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 116 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. last — to go on
  3. face — to point toward
  4. vault — a safe
  5. last — final
  6. face — to confront
  7. track — a path
  8. face — part of the head
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bat — the animal
  11. track — a song
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. band — a music group
  19. track — to keep track
  20. band — a ring
  21. prune — to trim
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bat — in an idiom

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