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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. face — part of the head
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. face — to confront
  5. kick — in football
  6. cold — not warm
  7. clip — for paper
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. content — the amount
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. content — happy
  14. last — finally
  15. clip — to cut
  16. stock — shares
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. stock — goods
  20. last — final
  21. face — to point toward
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. clip — a video

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