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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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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: lash · club · mine · last · face · net · cold · tear

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. net — for catching
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. face — part of the head
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — an illness
  8. club — for golf
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. net — in sport
  12. net — after costs
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. club — for dancing
  20. last — final
  21. club — a group
  22. tear — to rip
  23. mine — for digging
  24. face — to point toward

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