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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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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: fall · face · snap · file · content · game · spell · ground

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fall — the season
  3. file — a line of people
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. snap — to click
  6. ground — crushed
  7. content — the amount
  8. game — wild animals
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. spell — a short time
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spell — magic
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. file — a document
  15. face — to confront
  16. fall — to drop
  17. file — a tool
  18. game — a match
  19. spell — letters
  20. face — to point toward
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — the earth
  23. face — part of the head
  24. fall — to drop

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