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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. plane — a tool
  6. hand — in cards
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. track — a song
  9. face — to point toward
  10. hand — help
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — part of the head
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — an illness
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. track — a path
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. track — to keep track
  22. last — finally
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — to dunk

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