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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. club — for golf
  3. track — to keep track
  4. file — a line of people
  5. rest — a break
  6. club — a group
  7. track — a path
  8. face — to point toward
  9. mark — a grade
  10. track — a song
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. rest — what's left
  14. degree — an amount
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. face — part of the head
  17. club — for dancing
  18. degree — temperature
  19. file — a document
  20. mark — a trace
  21. pitch — completely
  22. degree — from a university
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. file — a tool

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