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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. march — the month
  3. cap — a lid
  4. tear — from crying
  5. key — in music
  6. face — part of the head
  7. clip — to cut
  8. march — music
  9. cap — a hat
  10. bark — to shout
  11. game — a match
  12. face — to point toward
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — for a lock
  18. march — the month
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. tear — to rip
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. face — to confront
  24. cap — of ice

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