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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: fall · bark · bound · hand · face · plane · last · wind

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. hand — help
  6. face — to confront
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. fall — to drop
  9. last — to go on
  10. bound — certain
  11. bound — tied together
  12. fall — the season
  13. bound — obliged
  14. last — final
  15. wind — moving air
  16. hand — in cards
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. last — finally
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. wind — moving air
  21. face — part of the head
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — a tool
  24. bark — to shout

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