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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. face — to point toward
  3. bear — the animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. shower — to wash
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. face — to confront
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bear — the animal
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. shower — rain
  15. stock — goods
  16. land — ground
  17. land — a country
  18. land — to come down
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. stock — shares
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. face — part of the head

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