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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 · march · tube · face · squash · stem · ball · pound

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. face — to point toward
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. land — to come down
  5. march — music
  6. ball — a dance
  7. stem — to come from
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. squash — the sport
  11. face — part of the head
  12. pound — a weight
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. squash — to crush
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. land — ground
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. tube — the underground
  20. march — the month
  21. ball — a great time
  22. tube — a container
  23. march — the month
  24. land — a country

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