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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 116 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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. squash — to crush
  3. face — part of the head
  4. fall — to drop
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. file — a document
  8. clip — for paper
  9. file — a tool
  10. squash — the sport
  11. file — a line of people
  12. vault — a safe
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. clip — a video
  18. wax — to grow
  19. fall — to drop
  20. face — to point toward
  21. hand — in cards
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. fall — the season
  24. clip — to cut

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