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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. court — for sport
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. clip — for paper
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. saw — the tool
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. saw — the tool
  11. court — of law
  12. branch — a division
  13. clip — a video
  14. face — to point toward
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. face — part of the head
  19. stand — to bear
  20. clip — to cut
  21. court — of a king
  22. mine — for digging
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. kick — in football

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