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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 124 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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. face — part of the head
  3. tear — from crying
  4. clip — a video
  5. ground — crushed
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. chest — of your body
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. chest — a box
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. field — for sport
  19. ground — a position
  20. chest — of your body
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — farmland
  23. ground — the earth
  24. face — to confront

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