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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. last — final
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. pass — a permit
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. vault — a safe
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — not warm
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — part of the head
  15. last — finally
  16. staff — a stick
  17. cold — an illness
  18. face — to point toward
  19. wound — an injury
  20. last — to go on
  21. staff — employees
  22. field — for sport
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. pass — to succeed

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