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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. clip — to cut
  3. shower — to wash
  4. last — to go on
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — rain
  7. root — of a word
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. face — to confront
  10. scale — size or range
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. clip — for paper
  13. face — part of the head
  14. last — final
  15. scale — in music
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — a cake
  18. clip — a video
  19. march — music
  20. face — to point toward
  21. march — the month
  22. root — of a plant
  23. march — the month
  24. root — the cause

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