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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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. clip — for paper
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. clip — a video
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. land — a country
  9. land — ground
  10. spring — a coil
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. spring — the season
  13. court — for sport
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. court — of a king
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. spring — of water
  18. face — to confront
  19. date — the fruit
  20. court — of law
  21. face — part of the head
  22. clip — to cut
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. land — to come down

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