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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. clip — a video
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chest — of your body
  6. key — in music
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. kid — child
  9. face — part of the head
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bulb — for light
  12. key — the most important part
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. clip — to cut
  15. clip — for paper
  16. key — for a lock
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. chest — a box
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — an illness
  23. face — to confront
  24. jam — a tight spot

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