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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: rule · pop · row · face · tear · degree

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. face — to confront
  3. degree — an amount
  4. rule — a law
  5. rule — government
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pop — music
  8. face — part of the head
  9. degree — from a university
  10. pop — soda
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pop — to visit
  13. tear — to rip
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. face — to point toward

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