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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 116 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: face · degree · cap · tear · plane · root · bat · ground

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. bat — the animal
  3. degree — temperature
  4. face — to point toward
  5. face — part of the head
  6. tear — to rip
  7. plane — a tool
  8. degree — from a university
  9. cap — a lid
  10. ground — a position
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cap — of ice
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. root — of a word
  18. cap — a hat
  19. ground — crushed
  20. root — of a plant
  21. ground — the earth
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. degree — an amount
  24. root — the cause

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