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

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. band — a music group
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. face — to point toward
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. band — a ring
  9. clip — for paper
  10. mine — for digging
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — a video
  13. pound — a weight
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. face — part of the head
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. mine — belonging to me

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