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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · rule · game · squash · mate · bear · coach · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. mate — a friend
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. rule — a law
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. squash — the sport
  7. face — part of the head
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. mate — a partner
  11. squash — to crush
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bear — the animal
  14. game — a match
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. face — to point toward
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. mate — to breed
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. clip — a video
  22. rule — government
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bear — the animal

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