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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. face — to point toward
  3. face — part of the head
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. rule — a law
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. clip — a video
  13. cell — a phone
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. rule — government
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chair — a leader
  22. face — to confront
  23. cell — in biology
  24. clip — for paper

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