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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. face — to point toward
  6. shower — rain
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. face — part of the head
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pass — a permit
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. pitch — completely
  15. snap — to click
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. pound — a weight
  20. spring — the season
  21. face — to confront
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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