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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. ball — a dance
  3. face — to point toward
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. face — to confront
  6. rule — government
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cold — not warm
  9. saw — the tool
  10. kid — child
  11. bat — the animal
  12. saw — the tool
  13. face — part of the head
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. branch — a division
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rule — a law

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