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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. press — to push
  3. face — to point toward
  4. bat — the animal
  5. net — for catching
  6. pit — in a race
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. craft — boats
  10. press — a publisher
  11. row — a line
  12. net — after costs
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. pit — a hole
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. chair — a leader
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. net — in sport
  20. face — part of the head
  21. craft — a skill
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. press — newspapers

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