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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  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. track — a song
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bound — obliged
  4. kid — child
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. shower — to wash
  8. face — to confront
  9. cap — a hat
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — a country
  12. face — part of the head
  13. track — to keep track
  14. bound — tied together
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. kid — to tease
  17. track — a path
  18. cap — of ice
  19. cap — a lid
  20. bound — certain
  21. shower — rain
  22. face — to point toward
  23. land — ground
  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