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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: hand · deal · land · face · chest · field · object · ground

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. face — part of the head
  3. hand — help
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. object — to protest
  6. field — a subject
  7. hand — in cards
  8. chest — of your body
  9. field — for sport
  10. ground — the earth
  11. land — a country
  12. face — to confront
  13. ground — a position
  14. face — to point toward
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. deal — to handle
  17. field — farmland
  18. ground — crushed
  19. chest — a box
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. object — a thing
  22. chest — of your body
  23. land — ground
  24. land — to come down

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