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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: content · bat · face · fall · hand · leaves · clip · cabinet

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. content — happy
  5. content — the amount
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — help
  10. clip — a video
  11. fall — the season
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. fall — to drop
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. fall — to drop
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. face — part of the head
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. clip — to cut
  22. hand — in cards
  23. face — to point toward
  24. face — to confront

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