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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: face · game · swing · saw · land · fall · stem · sharp

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. saw — the tool
  3. swing — to play on
  4. face — part of the head
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. land — to come down
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. face — to point toward
  9. swing — in golf
  10. saw — the tool
  11. swing — music
  12. game — a match
  13. stem — to come from
  14. land — ground
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. land — a country
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. fall — to drop
  20. sharp — clever
  21. fall — to drop
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. fall — the season
  24. game — wild animals

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