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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. ball — a great time
  3. present — a gift
  4. shower — rain
  5. kid — to tease
  6. face — part of the head
  7. march — the month
  8. present — there
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. stem — to come from
  11. ball — a dance
  12. march — the month
  13. ground — crushed
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. face — to confront
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. kid — child
  18. ground — the earth
  19. present — the time now
  20. ground — a position
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. march — music

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