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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 teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wind — moving air
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. clip — for paper
  8. race — a contest
  9. root — the cause
  10. roll — a cake
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. clip — to cut
  13. face — to confront
  14. clip — a video
  15. root — of a word
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. face — part of the head
  19. face — to point toward
  20. cell — a phone
  21. race — humankind
  22. race — the arms race
  23. root — of a plant
  24. mine — belonging to me

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