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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.

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: cold · sharp · jam · board · wound · face · perch · mine

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. perch — the fish
  12. mine — for digging
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — not warm
  15. sharp — clever
  16. face — to confront
  17. board — to get on
  18. face — part of the head
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. board — a committee
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — the Cold War

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