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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. staff — employees
  4. face — to confront
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chest — a box
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. drill — a practice
  11. chest — of your body
  12. staff — employees
  13. face — to point toward
  14. chest — of your body
  15. face — part of the head
  16. mine — for digging
  17. staff — a stick
  18. drill — the tool

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