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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 · file · face · firm · capital · mine · cell · chest

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. file — a tool
  3. file — a document
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. firm — decided
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. face — to point toward
  8. land — a country
  9. chest — a box
  10. capital — a city
  11. firm — steady
  12. capital — money
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. cell — a phone
  15. face — part of the head
  16. file — a line of people
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. face — to confront
  20. mine — for digging
  21. firm — a company
  22. cell — in biology
  23. chest — of your body
  24. capital — a big letter

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