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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. land — to come down
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. land — ground
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. land — a country
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. band — a ring
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. mine — for digging
  12. face — to point toward
  13. face — part of the head
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. band — a music group
  16. can — a tin
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — the tool
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. cold — an illness
  21. can — a tin
  22. can — to be able to
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. cold — not warm

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