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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 works in a ________________ mill.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. saw — the tool
  3. pit — in a race
  4. tear — to rip
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. face — to point toward
  9. bear — the animal
  10. tear — from crying
  11. saw — the tool
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. mine — for digging
  14. tear — from crying
  15. stem — to come from
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pit — a hole
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. clip — for paper
  24. face — part of the head

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