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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: face · chip · content · present · plane · net · clip · wind

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. face — to point toward
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — to cut
  5. plane — a tool
  6. net — for catching
  7. net — after costs
  8. chip — to eat
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. present — a gift
  12. face — part of the head
  13. wind — moving air
  14. net — in sport
  15. clip — for paper
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — there
  18. chip — for betting
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. face — to confront
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. content — the amount
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. clip — a video

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