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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. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pitch — completely
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. prune — to trim
  5. hand — help
  6. degree — an amount
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. rest — what's left
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — a break
  15. mine — for digging
  16. face — to point toward
  17. hand — in cards
  18. prune — to trim
  19. degree — from a university
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. face — part of the head
  23. degree — temperature
  24. calf — of the leg

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