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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: cell · mine · wind · content · mark · face · game · clip

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. game — wild animals
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mark — a trace
  5. wind — moving air
  6. face — part of the head
  7. content — the amount
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. wind — moving air
  10. face — to confront
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — a video
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. game — a match
  19. cell — in biology
  20. mark — a grade
  21. cell — a phone
  22. clip — to cut
  23. content — happy
  24. mine — for digging

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