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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. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. charge — electricity
  4. date — the fruit
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cold — an illness
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. charge — a price
  10. game — a match
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. face — to confront
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. charge — in control
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. cold — not warm
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. wind — moving air
  21. face — part of the head
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. wind — moving air

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