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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. mark — a grade
  4. bore — to drill
  5. swing — to play on
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. face — to point toward
  8. branch — a division
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. kid — child
  12. face — part of the head
  13. clip — for paper
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. bore — to tire
  17. mark — a trace
  18. clip — a video
  19. face — to confront
  20. sharp — clever
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — music
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. clip — to cut

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