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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. face — to point toward
  3. ground — the earth
  4. face — to confront
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. mark — a trace
  8. row — to paddle
  9. ground — crushed
  10. spell — magic
  11. row — a line
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. mark — a grade
  14. spell — letters
  15. ground — a position
  16. cold — not warm
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. face — part of the head
  24. spell — a short time

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