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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. face — to point toward
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. mine — for digging
  10. face — part of the head
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of law
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. march — the month
  21. shower — to wash
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. shower — rain
  24. mine — an explosive

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