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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  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. face — to confront
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. shower — to wash
  4. face — to point toward
  5. face — part of the head
  6. kick — in football
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. swing — music
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. swing — to play on
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. sharp — clever
  17. shower — rain
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. swing — in golf
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. sharp — exactly
  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