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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. mark — a grade
  4. face — to point toward
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — help
  7. shower — rain
  8. land — ground
  9. current — of water
  10. last — to go on
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. cold — not warm
  13. face — to confront
  14. mark — a trace
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. last — final
  17. last — finally
  18. face — part of the head
  19. hand — in cards
  20. current — happening now
  21. land — a country
  22. current — electric
  23. shower — to wash
  24. cold — an illness

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