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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. face — part of the head
  3. chest — of your body
  4. firm — a company
  5. swing — to play on
  6. prune — to trim
  7. chest — of your body
  8. clip — to cut
  9. firm — steady
  10. clip — a video
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a music group
  15. wax — to grow
  16. face — to confront
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. firm — decided
  19. face — to point toward
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. swing — in golf
  22. chest — a box
  23. prune — to trim
  24. swing — music

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