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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 124 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. cell — a phone
  3. drill — a practice
  4. clip — a video
  5. drill — army training
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. staff — a stick
  8. clip — for paper
  9. face — to confront
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — in biology
  13. march — music
  14. plane — a tool
  15. row — to paddle
  16. staff — employees
  17. row — a line
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. march — the month
  20. clip — to cut
  21. drill — the tool
  22. staff — employees
  23. march — the month
  24. face — part of the head

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