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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: mine · kid · face · ball · shower · deal · chair · cell

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. face — to confront
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cell — a phone
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. kid — to tease
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. face — part of the head
  10. face — to point toward
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. deal — to handle
  15. chair — a leader
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. kid — child
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. shower — rain
  22. ball — a great time
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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