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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. kid — to tease
  3. ball — a great time
  4. club — for dancing
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. kid — child
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. face — part of the head
  9. club — a group
  10. pop — soda
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. ball — a dance
  15. game — a match
  16. face — to point toward
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. pop — to visit
  20. club — for golf
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. game — wild animals
  23. pop — music
  24. cold — not warm

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