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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 120 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: staff · face · wave · cold · spring · scale · drill · bore

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. face — to confront
  3. scale — size or range
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. staff — employees
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. drill — army training
  8. bore — to tire
  9. cold — an illness
  10. spring — of water
  11. drill — a practice
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. drill — the tool
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — a coil
  17. scale — in music
  18. face — to point toward
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. face — part of the head
  21. bore — to drill
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. staff — employees
  24. staff — a stick

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