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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. face — to point toward
  3. row — a line
  4. net — in sport
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a document
  8. band — a music group
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. file — a tool
  11. face — part of the head
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. band — a ring
  22. dip — to sink
  23. face — to confront
  24. net — after costs

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