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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a match
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. tube — the underground
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. wind — moving air
  10. key — the most important part
  11. tube — a container
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. key — in music
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. shower — to wash
  18. key — for a lock
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. face — to point toward
  22. shower — rain
  23. wind — moving air
  24. face — part of the head

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