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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. prune — to trim
  3. spell — magic
  4. band — a ring
  5. spell — a short time
  6. march — the month
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. face — part of the head
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — to play on
  12. band — a music group
  13. swing — in golf
  14. clip — for paper
  15. prune — to trim
  16. face — to confront
  17. clip — a video
  18. spell — letters
  19. march — the month
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — thin
  22. clip — to cut
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. march — music

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