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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. drill — the tool
  3. pit — a hole
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. last — to go on
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. clip — a video
  10. face — to confront
  11. last — final
  12. face — part of the head
  13. drill — a practice
  14. bound — certain
  15. last — finally
  16. drill — army training
  17. net — in sport
  18. wake — a trail
  19. face — to point toward
  20. net — for catching
  21. bound — obliged
  22. pit — in a race
  23. net — after costs
  24. bound — tied together

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