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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: race · wound · prune · land · ball · content · deal · face

  1. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. prune — to trim
  3. race — humankind
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. face — to confront
  6. land — ground
  7. face — to point toward
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — the arms race
  11. prune — to trim
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. land — to come down
  14. content — the amount
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. land — a country
  17. ball — a great time
  18. ball — a dance
  19. deal — to handle
  20. face — part of the head
  21. content — happy
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. ball — a round shape

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