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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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. pit — in a race
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bear — the animal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. shower — to wash
  9. pound — a weight
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. spell — a short time
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bear — the animal
  16. shower — rain
  17. spell — magic
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. spell — letters
  22. pit — a hole
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. cold — the Cold War

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