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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. land — a country
  4. land — to come down
  5. cue — a signal
  6. swing — in golf
  7. face — part of the head
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cue — a hint
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. rash — hasty
  12. face — to confront
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. ball — a great time
  15. cold — an illness
  16. ball — a dance
  17. land — ground
  18. cue — for pool
  19. pound — a weight
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. face — to point toward
  23. swing — music
  24. swing — to play on

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