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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.

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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: chest · rest · shower · face · root · mine · saw · fall

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. saw — the tool
  3. fall — to drop
  4. rest — a break
  5. rest — what's left
  6. face — to confront
  7. root — of a word
  8. saw — the tool
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — rain
  11. face — to point toward
  12. chest — of your body
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. root — of a plant
  16. root — the cause
  17. rest — what's left
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. face — part of the head
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. fall — the season
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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