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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 120 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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. face — to confront
  3. hand — help
  4. face — to point toward
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. swing — music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. chest — of your body
  10. swing — to play on
  11. mine — for digging
  12. hand — in cards
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. chest — a box
  15. rush — hurry
  16. swing — in golf
  17. staff — a stick
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. staff — employees
  20. chest — of your body
  21. clip — a video
  22. staff — employees
  23. face — part of the head
  24. clip — for paper

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