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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · track · key · clip · present · face · shower · march

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. track — a path
  2. face — to confront
  3. kid — to tease
  4. march — the month
  5. track — a song
  6. kid — child
  7. present — a gift
  8. key — for a lock
  9. present — the time now
  10. shower — rain
  11. march — the month
  12. track — to keep track
  13. key — the most important part
  14. march — music
  15. present — there
  16. clip — to cut
  17. face — to point toward
  18. shower — to wash
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. key — in music
  21. face — part of the head
  22. clip — a video
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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