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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. clip — to cut
  5. face — to point toward
  6. clip — a video
  7. cold — an illness
  8. face — part of the head
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. wound — an injury
  11. last — final
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. capital — money
  14. last — finally
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. last — to go on
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. capital — a city
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. pass — a permit
  23. rush — hurry
  24. wound — an injury

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