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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 124 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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. clip — for paper
  4. land — a country
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. land — ground
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. lie — to recline
  11. squash — to crush
  12. face — part of the head
  13. squash — the sport
  14. capital — money
  15. land — to come down
  16. capital — a city
  17. face — to point toward
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. branch — a division
  20. game — a match
  21. face — to confront
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. capital — a big letter

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