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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 120 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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bore · face · stem · cold · mine · chair · plane · last

  1. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. face — to point toward
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. last — final
  6. face — to confront
  7. last — to go on
  8. bore — to tire
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. face — part of the head
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. plane — a tool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stem — to come from
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. last — finally
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mine — for digging
  24. stem — a stem cell

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