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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. face — part of the head
  12. file — a tool
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. face — to confront
  15. stock — shares
  16. shower — rain
  17. cold — an illness
  18. file — a document
  19. fork — in a road
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. stock — goods
  23. file — a line of people
  24. vault — a safe

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