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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. content — happy
  3. degree — from a university
  4. face — to confront
  5. saw — the tool
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. face — part of the head
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. degree — an amount
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. saw — the tool
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. content — the amount
  22. mine — for digging
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. degree — temperature

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