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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. face — to point toward
  3. degree — from a university
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. face — to confront
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. fine — high quality
  8. shower — to wash
  9. fine — all right
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. rule — a law
  13. degree — temperature
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. chair — a leader
  16. file — a document
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. face — part of the head
  19. file — a tool
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a line of people
  22. shower — rain
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. rule — government

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