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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. mate — to breed
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a music group
  7. wake — a trail
  8. mate — a partner
  9. face — part of the head
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. hand — in cards
  13. face — to confront
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. last — finally
  16. clip — a video
  17. hand — help
  18. last — final
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mate — a friend
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. clip — for paper
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. last — to go on

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