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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. pass — a permit
  3. clip — a video
  4. field — farmland
  5. face — part of the head
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. rush — hurry
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. field — a subject
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. face — to point toward
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. shower — to wash
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. field — for sport
  24. shower — rain

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