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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: straw · fan · court · bat · mark · face · staff · wound

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. court — for sport
  3. face — to point toward
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. court — of a king
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wound — an injury
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. mark — a trace
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. face — part of the head
  17. staff — employees
  18. staff — a stick
  19. mark — a grade
  20. court — of law
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. wound — an injury
  23. staff — employees
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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