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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. object — to protest
  3. clip — to cut
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. clip — for paper
  6. object — an aim
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. clip — a video
  9. net — after costs
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. cell — a phone
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. cell — in biology
  14. field — farmland
  15. field — a subject
  16. pound — a weight
  17. net — for catching
  18. face — to point toward
  19. net — in sport
  20. face — part of the head
  21. plane — a tool
  22. object — a thing
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. field — for sport

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