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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: bound · cold · face · wound · mate · straw · stick · field

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. wound — an injury
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. face — part of the head
  7. bound — certain
  8. mate — to breed
  9. face — to confront
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. field — for sport
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bound — obliged
  15. mate — a friend
  16. field — a subject
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bound — tied together
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mate — a partner
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. field — farmland

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