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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. face — part of the head
  3. clip — to cut
  4. face — to point toward
  5. clip — a video
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. charge — electricity
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. scale — in music
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. shower — to wash
  12. charge — a price
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a music group
  15. clip — for paper
  16. face — to confront
  17. tear — from crying
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — to rip
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. charge — in control
  24. wake — a trail

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