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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 116 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: kid · march · face · ground · last · clip · cell · mug

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. clip — a video
  3. cell — in biology
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — to go on
  6. ground — crushed
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. face — part of the head
  10. mug — a cup
  11. kid — child
  12. mug — a face
  13. march — the month
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. march — music
  16. face — to confront
  17. mug — to rob
  18. cell — a phone
  19. march — the month
  20. last — finally
  21. ground — the earth
  22. ground — a position
  23. clip — for paper
  24. last — final

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