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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 120 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: kid · tear · mine · bowl · fan · wind · chair · face

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. kid — to tease
  5. tear — from crying
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. face — part of the head
  11. chair — a leader
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. wind — moving air
  18. face — to point toward
  19. tear — from crying
  20. kid — child
  21. face — to confront
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. wind — moving air

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