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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: face · land · content · cold · bound · saw · row · pop

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. bound — certain
  3. bound — obliged
  4. land — ground
  5. saw — the tool
  6. bound — tied together
  7. pop — to visit
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pop — soda
  10. pop — music
  11. cold — an illness
  12. row — a line
  13. face — to confront
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. saw — the tool
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — a country
  19. face — part of the head
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. content — the amount
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. face — to point toward
  24. content — happy

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