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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: race · mug · degree · rule · band · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. race — a contest
  3. degree — from a university
  4. mug — to rob
  5. face — to point toward
  6. degree — an amount
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — humankind
  9. mug — a cup
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. band — a music group
  12. band — a ring
  13. rule — a law
  14. degree — temperature
  15. rule — government
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. mug — a face
  18. face — part of the head

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