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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: tear · face · key · file · fall · capital · rule · clip

  1. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. key — in music
  2. face — to confront
  3. clip — for paper
  4. file — a document
  5. capital — a city
  6. tear — to rip
  7. capital — money
  8. face — part of the head
  9. tear — from crying
  10. key — the most important part
  11. fall — to drop
  12. face — to point toward
  13. fall — to drop
  14. rule — government
  15. fall — the season
  16. clip — to cut
  17. rule — a law
  18. key — for a lock
  19. file — a tool
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. tear — from crying
  23. file — a line of people
  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