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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 116 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's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. face — to point toward
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. face — to confront
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. plane — a tool
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. clip — a video
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mug — to rob
  15. mug — a cup
  16. capital — a city
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. clip — to cut
  19. capital — money
  20. face — part of the head
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. clip — for paper
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. mug — a face

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