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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: fine · row · face · court · cold · net · spell · pitcher

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — a line
  6. spell — letters
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. net — after costs
  9. fine — high quality
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. spell — a short time
  12. net — in sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fine — all right
  15. court — of law
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. net — for catching
  18. court — for sport
  19. spell — magic
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. court — of a king
  22. face — to point toward
  23. row — to paddle
  24. face — part of the head

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