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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. clip — for paper
  3. tear — to rip
  4. face — to confront
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tube — the underground
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. face — to point toward
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. clip — a video
  11. tube — a container
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bound — obliged
  15. bound — tied together
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. face — part of the head
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. bound — certain
  23. cold — not warm
  24. fan — a supporter

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