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

Word bank: wind · face · pit · court · current · fall · kick · bat

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. 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. kick — with a leg
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. court — of law
  5. face — to point toward
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. kick — in football
  8. fall — to drop
  9. pit — a hole
  10. current — electric
  11. court — of a king
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pit — in a race
  14. bat — the animal
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — the season
  17. wind — moving air
  18. current — of water
  19. current — happening now
  20. wind — moving air
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. court — for sport
  24. 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