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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: cold · face · squash · race · wake · firm · spring · object

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. spring — of water
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. race — humankind
  5. firm — decided
  6. object — to protest
  7. face — part of the head
  8. race — a contest
  9. object — a thing
  10. spring — the season
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — a trail
  15. squash — the sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spring — a coil
  18. firm — steady
  19. face — to point toward
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. firm — a company
  22. squash — to crush
  23. object — an aim
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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