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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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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: hide · band · face · tear · stand · cold · land · arm

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. tear — to rip
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. face — part of the head
  10. land — a country
  11. band — a ring
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tear — from crying
  15. stand — to bear
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. band — a music group
  18. cold — an illness
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. tear — from crying
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. face — to confront
  23. face — to point toward
  24. hide — animal skin

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