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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. cold — not warm
  3. net — in sport
  4. face — to point toward
  5. face — to confront
  6. shower — rain
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — an illness
  13. shower — to wash
  14. net — after costs
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. face — part of the head
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. content — the amount
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. temple — side of the head

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