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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. prune — to trim
  3. row — to paddle
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. prune — to trim
  6. rule — government
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bat — the animal
  10. sharp — clever
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. rule — a law
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. row — a line
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. face — to confront
  22. cell — in biology
  23. face — to point toward
  24. rule — to rule out

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