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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 120 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 · cold · snap · court · fall · bass · root · last

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. last — finally
  4. court — of a king
  5. root — of a word
  6. root — of a plant
  7. bass — the fish
  8. fall — the season
  9. fall — to drop
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fall — to drop
  13. bass — low music
  14. snap — to click
  15. last — to go on
  16. cold — an illness
  17. court — of law
  18. face — to confront
  19. cold — not warm
  20. face — part of the head
  21. root — the cause
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. court — for sport
  24. last — final

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