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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 116 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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. spell — magic
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. branch — a division
  6. face — part of the head
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. row — a line
  9. spell — a short time
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. mark — a grade
  15. mark — a trace
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. fork — in a road
  18. spell — letters
  19. bat — the animal
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. face — to point toward
  23. band — a ring
  24. row — to paddle

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