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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: rock · craft · clip · face · chest · mate · kid · cell

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. chest — a box
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. face — to point toward
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. mate — to breed
  8. craft — boats
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. mate — a friend
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. rock — music
  13. kid — child
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. cell — a phone
  16. face — part of the head
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cell — in biology
  19. rock — a stone
  20. kid — to tease
  21. clip — a video
  22. mate — a partner
  23. craft — a skill
  24. clip — to cut

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