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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: leaves · face · spell · tube · court · shower · ground · pitcher

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. shower — rain
  3. spell — letters
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. face — to point toward
  6. tube — a container
  7. spell — a short time
  8. court — of law
  9. face — to confront
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. spell — magic
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. court — of a king
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. ground — a position
  17. tube — the underground
  18. ground — crushed
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. face — part of the head
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. ground — the earth
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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