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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: clip · roll · face · present · bank · ground · pound · cold

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. face — to point toward
  3. face — part of the head
  4. present — a gift
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pound — a weight
  7. cold — an illness
  8. ground — the earth
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. face — to confront
  11. present — the time now
  12. clip — a video
  13. roll — a list
  14. cold — not warm
  15. ground — a position
  16. clip — for paper
  17. ground — crushed
  18. present — there
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. bank — for money
  23. bank — of a river
  24. bank — for money

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