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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: pass · face · ball · row · scale · last · saw · cold

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. last — finally
  4. scale — in music
  5. row — to paddle
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ball — a dance
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. ball — a great time
  12. last — final
  13. row — a line
  14. face — to point toward
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. last — to go on
  19. saw — the tool
  20. pass — a permit
  21. face — to confront
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. face — part of the head
  24. cold — an illness

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