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

Word bank: face · club · clip · march · prune · arm · root · chest

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. club — for dancing
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. club — a group
  6. chest — of your body
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. face — part of the head
  9. clip — a video
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. root — of a plant
  12. club — for golf
  13. root — of a word
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chest — of your body
  16. root — the cause
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. prune — to trim
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — for paper
  21. face — to point toward
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. march — music
  24. prune — to trim

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