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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. fine — high quality
  3. fine — all right
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. charge — electricity
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. face — to point toward
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. charge — a price
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. field — farmland
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. face — to confront
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — for sport
  20. charge — in control
  21. cold — an illness
  22. clip — for paper
  23. field — a subject
  24. fine — a penalty

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