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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. face — to confront
  3. fall — to drop
  4. cap — a hat
  5. fall — the season
  6. face — to point toward
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bear — the animal
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. cap — of ice
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. face — part of the head
  20. bear — the animal
  21. cap — a lid
  22. mine — for digging
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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