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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: field · face · wound · rush · hand · branch · pitch · fall

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. rush — hurry
  4. field — farmland
  5. pitch — completely
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. field — a subject
  9. face — to point toward
  10. wound — an injury
  11. branch — a division
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. hand — help
  16. field — for sport
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. fall — to drop
  19. face — part of the head
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — the season
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rush — a thrill

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