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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. face — to point toward
  3. club — for dancing
  4. staff — employees
  5. key — in music
  6. key — the most important part
  7. staff — a stick
  8. shower — rain
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. club — a group
  11. shower — to wash
  12. kid — child
  13. staff — employees
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. face — part of the head
  17. club — for golf
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. kid — to tease
  20. swing — to play on
  21. key — for a lock
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. bat — the animal

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