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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. face — to confront
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bat — the animal
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. board — a committee
  9. degree — from a university
  10. land — a country
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — to point toward
  13. land — to come down
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. board — to get on
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. land — ground
  20. degree — temperature
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. snap — to click
  23. degree — an amount
  24. hand — help

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