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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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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: court · chest · wax · face · content · mark · present · clip

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  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 point toward
  2. clip — for paper
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. present — the time now
  5. face — part of the head
  6. mark — a grade
  7. present — a gift
  8. clip — a video
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. face — to confront
  11. court — of a king
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. chest — of your body
  15. court — for sport
  16. chest — a box
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. mark — a trace
  19. content — the amount
  20. content — happy
  21. wax — to grow
  22. court — of law
  23. present — there
  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