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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — to cut
  5. face — part of the head
  6. club — for dancing
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. clip — a video
  9. spring — the season
  10. club — for golf
  11. branch — a division
  12. last — finally
  13. last — final
  14. spring — of water
  15. face — to confront
  16. wake — a trail
  17. last — to go on
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. spring — a coil
  22. clip — for paper
  23. club — a group
  24. face — to point toward

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