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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.

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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: cold · present · tube · face · bound · clip · bat · object

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. face — to confront
  3. clip — a video
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — there
  6. face — part of the head
  7. object — an aim
  8. bound — certain
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — to cut
  11. tube — the underground
  12. object — to protest
  13. bound — tied together
  14. cold — an illness
  15. object — a thing
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. tube — a container
  22. face — to point toward
  23. present — the time now
  24. tube — in a tire

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