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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. face — to confront
  3. content — the amount
  4. spring — the season
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. fine — all right
  8. spring — of water
  9. content — happy
  10. shower — to wash
  11. face — part of the head
  12. fine — high quality
  13. shower — rain
  14. bass — the fish
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. bass — low music
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — money
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. clip — to cut
  21. spring — a coil
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. face — to point toward
  24. capital — a city

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