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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. content — happy
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. content — the amount
  6. bear — the animal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. face — part of the head
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. clip — to cut
  12. charge — electricity
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — the animal
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. face — to confront
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. charge — a price
  20. shower — to wash
  21. charge — in control
  22. shower — rain
  23. clip — a video
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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