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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. game — wild animals
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. roll — a cake
  7. cap — a lid
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. wind — moving air
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. face — to confront
  12. cap — of ice
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. wind — moving air
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. cold — not warm
  17. game — a match
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. roll — a list
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cold — an illness
  24. face — part of the head

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