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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. row — to paddle
  3. face — part of the head
  4. content — happy
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. content — the amount
  7. swing — music
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. shower — rain
  10. fine — all right
  11. wound — an injury
  12. shower — to wash
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. swing — to play on
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. swing — in golf
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. fine — high quality
  19. row — a line
  20. mine — for digging
  21. wound — an injury
  22. face — to point toward
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. fine — a penalty

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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