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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 · march · pound · bank · chest · court · wound

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. chest — a box
  4. face — to confront
  5. march — the month
  6. wound — an injury
  7. face — part of the head
  8. bank — for money
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pound — a weight
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. march — the month
  14. bank — of a river
  15. land — a country
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. bank — for money
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — for sport
  21. face — to point toward
  22. court — of law
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. march — music

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