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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. content — the amount
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — a container
  5. squash — the sport
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. saw — the tool
  8. face — to point toward
  9. saw — the tool
  10. content — happy
  11. swing — in golf
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. swing — music
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. march — music
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. march — the month
  20. face — part of the head
  21. march — the month
  22. squash — to crush
  23. swing — to play on
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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