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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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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: shower · game · face · snap · cabinet · cold

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. cold — an illness
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. game — a match
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. snap — to click
  8. face — to point toward
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. shower — rain
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. game — wild animals
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. face — to confront
  17. shower — to wash
  18. 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