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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: rest · game · shower · wound · snap · toast · nail · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. game — a match
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. rest — a break
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. rest — what's left
  10. rest — what's left
  11. toast — bread
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. face — part of the head
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. wound — an injury
  18. game — wild animals
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. snap — to click
  24. face — to point toward

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