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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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. face — to confront
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — a video
  5. face — to point toward
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. foot — a measure
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. chest — of your body
  10. rule — a law
  11. squash — the sport
  12. rule — government
  13. chest — of your body
  14. face — part of the head
  15. clip — to cut
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. shower — rain
  20. chest — a box
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bat — the animal
  24. squash — to crush

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