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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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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: chair · march · pound · content · bat · fall · swing · face

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pound — a weight
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. face — to confront
  7. fall — to drop
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. face — to point toward
  11. swing — music
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. content — the amount
  15. march — the month
  16. swing — to play on
  17. march — the month
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. march — music
  20. face — part of the head
  21. content — happy
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. swing — in golf
  24. fall — the season

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