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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. date — the fruit
  3. cold — an illness
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. drill — the tool
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. root — of a word
  10. face — part of the head
  11. wind — moving air
  12. root — the cause
  13. cold — not warm
  14. saw — the tool
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. drill — a practice
  17. face — to confront
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. root — of a plant
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. drill — army training
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wind — moving 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