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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 124 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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. spell — letters
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spell — magic
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. face — part of the head
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. capital — money
  10. branch — a division
  11. spell — a short time
  12. fork — in a road
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. rock — a stone
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. face — to point toward
  17. capital — a city
  18. bat — the animal
  19. row — a line
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. rock — music
  22. row — to paddle
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. row — a quarrel

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