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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. prune — to trim
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. face — to point toward
  5. prune — to trim
  6. squash — the sport
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. tube — the underground
  10. face — to confront
  11. cold — an illness
  12. tube — a container
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. game — a match
  15. squash — to crush
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. face — part of the head
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. cold — the Cold War

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