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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 116 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: file · face · present · hand · field · spring · cell · object

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. hand — help
  3. cell — a phone
  4. face — to confront
  5. face — to point toward
  6. present — the time now
  7. present — a gift
  8. spring — of water
  9. field — a subject
  10. file — a tool
  11. field — farmland
  12. present — there
  13. field — for sport
  14. file — a line of people
  15. face — part of the head
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. file — a document
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cell — in biology
  20. object — an aim
  21. hand — in cards
  22. object — a thing
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. spring — the season

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