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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. face — to point toward
  3. shower — rain
  4. charge — in control
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. net — in sport
  7. land — to come down
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — the season
  10. shower — to wash
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. land — ground
  13. charge — a price
  14. net — for catching
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. court — for sport
  17. charge — electricity
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — of law
  20. net — after costs
  21. spring — a coil
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. face — to confront
  24. land — a country

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