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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.

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: face · wound · bat · mine · leaves · fall · present · game

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. present — there
  3. face — to confront
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. face — to point toward
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. wound — an injury
  8. game — wild animals
  9. fall — to drop
  10. wound — an injury
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. mine — for digging
  13. face — part of the head
  14. present — a gift
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. present — the time now
  19. fall — the season
  20. game — a match
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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