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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. face — to confront
  3. tube — the underground
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bound — tied together
  6. hand — in cards
  7. fork — in a road
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. wind — moving air
  11. face — part of the head
  12. bass — low music
  13. spring — the season
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. bound — obliged
  17. spring — of water
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. tube — a container
  21. spring — a coil
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bound — certain
  24. face — to point toward

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