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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 120 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. wound — an injury
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — from a university
  12. content — the amount
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. face — to point toward
  17. wound — an injury
  18. chair — a leader
  19. degree — an amount
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. lie — to recline

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