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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. mine — for digging
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. hand — in cards
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. craft — a skill
  7. wind — moving air
  8. craft — boats
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. race — a contest
  11. face — part of the head
  12. lean — to bend
  13. race — the arms race
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. face — to point toward
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. clip — to cut
  20. race — humankind
  21. hand — help
  22. lean — thin
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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