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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. face — to confront
  4. march — music
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. lean — thin
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rule — government
  10. rule — a law
  11. clip — a video
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bank — for money
  15. clip — to cut
  16. face — part of the head
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. bank — of a river
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bank — for money
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. lean — to bend

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