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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: land · face · chest · wax · tube · wind · spell · wound

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. land — a country
  3. spell — magic
  4. wound — an injury
  5. face — to confront
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. land — to come down
  8. face — to point toward
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. spell — a short time
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. chest — a box
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. land — ground
  19. tube — the underground
  20. spell — letters
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wound — an injury
  23. chest — of your body
  24. tube — a container

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