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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: face · swing · bound · court · cell · wind · can · rash

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. can — to be able to
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rash — hasty
  6. wind — moving air
  7. can — a tin
  8. court — of a king
  9. rash — a series
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bound — obliged
  12. bound — certain
  13. face — to point toward
  14. face — part of the head
  15. bound — tied together
  16. cell — in biology
  17. court — of law
  18. can — a tin
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. court — for sport
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — to play on

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