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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 · game · fork · clip · current · face · coach · bay

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — not warm
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. face — to point toward
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. current — electric
  13. game — a match
  14. current — happening now
  15. clip — to cut
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. fork — in a road
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. cold — an illness
  20. current — of water
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. face — part of the head
  24. game — wild animals

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