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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: key · face · last · cold · clip · swing · object · pop

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. key — the most important part
  3. face — to confront
  4. swing — to play on
  5. object — a thing
  6. face — part of the head
  7. key — for a lock
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — not warm
  10. key — in music
  11. last — final
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. object — to protest
  16. swing — music
  17. last — to go on
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pop — to visit
  21. object — an aim
  22. pop — music
  23. face — to point toward
  24. swing — in golf

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