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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · sharp · game · craft · file · bat · cold · bear

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. file — a tool
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. sharp — clever
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a document
  9. game — a match
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. craft — a skill
  13. face — part of the head
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bear — the animal
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. face — to point toward
  22. bat — the animal
  23. face — to confront
  24. craft — boats

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