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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: face · ground · jam · last · game · fall · cold · tear

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. fall — to drop
  4. last — to go on
  5. face — part of the head
  6. last — final
  7. ground — the earth
  8. last — finally
  9. game — a match
  10. cold — an illness
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. cold — not warm
  13. fall — to drop
  14. ground — crushed
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. face — to confront
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. fall — the season
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. ground — a position

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