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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: face · wind · cap · file · swing · wave · chest · bat

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. bat — the animal
  3. chest — a box
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. file — a tool
  8. face — to point toward
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. file — a line of people
  13. cap — a hat
  14. face — part of the head
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — in golf
  17. cap — of ice
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — of your body
  20. face — to confront
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wind — moving air
  23. swing — to play on
  24. file — a document

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