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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. mug — a face
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. dip — to sink
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. face — to point toward
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. face — part of the head
  13. drill — a practice
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. hand — help
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. plane — a tool
  18. mug — to rob
  19. mug — a cup
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. drill — army training
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. drill — the tool
  24. hand — in cards

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