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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: craft · face · pound · kid · plane · clip · hide · pitch

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. face — to confront
  3. clip — for paper
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. craft — boats
  7. craft — a skill
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. face — part of the head
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. face — to point toward
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — child
  17. clip — to cut
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. plane — a tool
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — a weight
  23. clip — a video
  24. pitch — completely

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