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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: tear · cold · hand · march · toast · face · key · jam

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. toast — bread
  3. tear — from crying
  4. key — for a lock
  5. cold — an illness
  6. tear — from crying
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. march — music
  10. hand — in cards
  11. hand — help
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. face — to confront
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. march — the month
  16. cold — not warm
  17. key — in music
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. march — the month
  20. face — to point toward
  21. key — the most important part
  22. face — part of the head
  23. tear — to rip
  24. cold — the Cold War

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