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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 120 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: net · tear · chest · clip · face · chair · snap · coach

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. face — to confront
  4. tear — to rip
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. face — part of the head
  7. clip — for paper
  8. chest — of your body
  9. tear — from crying
  10. snap — to click
  11. tear — from crying
  12. clip — to cut
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. chest — a box
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — after costs
  18. chair — a leader
  19. clip — a video
  20. net — in sport
  21. face — to point toward
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chair — to sit on

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