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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. face — part of the head
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. kid — to tease
  5. scale — in music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. scale — size or range
  8. pass — to spend time
  9. roll — a cake
  10. mine — for digging
  11. face — to confront
  12. file — a document
  13. pass — a permit
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — a coil
  16. file — a tool
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. file — a line of people
  20. kid — child
  21. spring — of water
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. roll — a list
  24. roll — on a roll

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