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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. face — to point toward
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. row — a line
  7. roll — a cake
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. cap — a hat
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. row — to paddle
  13. march — the month
  14. cap — a lid
  15. cap — of ice
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. face — part of the head
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. roll — a list
  24. clip — to cut

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