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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: current · field · face · temple · mine · hand · drill · land

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. field — farmland
  3. face — to confront
  4. current — electric
  5. current — of water
  6. hand — help
  7. land — a country
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. land — ground
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. current — happening now
  12. drill — a practice
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. face — to point toward
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. field — for sport
  17. drill — the tool
  18. field — a subject
  19. hand — in cards
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. drill — army training
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. face — part of the head
  24. mine — for digging

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