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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. face — to confront
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — happy
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. rule — a law
  9. bear — the animal
  10. race — a contest
  11. content — the amount
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. face — to point toward
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wind — moving air
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. chair — a leader
  19. rule — government
  20. spell — magic
  21. race — humankind
  22. race — the arms race
  23. face — part of the head
  24. spell — a short time

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