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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: coach · chest · spring · leaves · clip · nail · ground · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spring — the season
  5. clip — a video
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. ground — the earth
  8. chest — of your body
  9. face — part of the head
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. spring — a coil
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. ground — crushed
  14. clip — to cut
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. face — to point toward
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. chest — of your body
  19. ground — a position
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. spring — of water
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. chest — a box

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