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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 120 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's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. field — a subject
  3. tube — the underground
  4. field — farmland
  5. sharp — clever
  6. clip — a video
  7. chest — a box
  8. face — part of the head
  9. clip — to cut
  10. last — finally
  11. face — to point toward
  12. last — final
  13. chest — of your body
  14. race — the arms race
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. face — to confront
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. clip — for paper
  21. tube — a container
  22. field — for sport
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. chest — of your body

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