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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. face — part of the head
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. cell — a phone
  5. row — a line
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cold — not warm
  8. craft — boats
  9. foot — a measure
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. face — to point toward
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. race — a contest
  17. craft — a skill
  18. row — to paddle
  19. cold — an illness
  20. race — humankind
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. race — the arms race
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. fan — to cool the air

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