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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: cold · tube · field · squash · mark · wound · bowl · face

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. tube — a container
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. face — to confront
  9. tube — the underground
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. mark — a trace
  15. field — farmland
  16. mark — a grade
  17. squash — the sport
  18. face — part of the head
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cold — an illness

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