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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. band — a ring
  3. wake — a trail
  4. face — to point toward
  5. cold — an illness
  6. band — a music group
  7. drill — a practice
  8. drill — army training
  9. prune — to trim
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. lie — to recline
  12. march — music
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. face — part of the head
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — not warm
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. face — to confront
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. march — the month

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