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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  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. hand — part of the body
  2. face — to point toward
  3. spring — a coil
  4. face — to confront
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. row — a line
  7. hand — help
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. spring — of water
  10. cell — a phone
  11. key — in music
  12. key — the most important part
  13. hand — in cards
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. band — a ring
  17. spring — the season
  18. band — a music group
  19. key — for a lock
  20. cell — in biology
  21. chair — a leader
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. row — to paddle
  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