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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: bat · root · snap · face · hide · mine · tube · wound

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. face — part of the head
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wound — an injury
  7. face — to confront
  8. mine — for digging
  9. snap — to click
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. bat — the animal
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. root — of a plant
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. tube — a container
  18. root — of a word
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. root — the cause
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. wound — an injury
  24. face — to point toward

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