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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. clip — a video
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. drill — army training
  9. clip — to cut
  10. face — part of the head
  11. wax — to grow
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. face — to point toward
  14. last — final
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. band — a music group
  17. drill — a practice
  18. band — a ring
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. drill — the tool
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. last — finally

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