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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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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: tear · field · last · wound · land · charge · face · net

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. charge — electricity
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. land — ground
  6. charge — in control
  7. charge — a price
  8. net — in sport
  9. net — after costs
  10. land — to come down
  11. field — a subject
  12. last — to go on
  13. net — for catching
  14. land — a country
  15. face — to confront
  16. field — for sport
  17. face — to point toward
  18. tear — from crying
  19. last — finally
  20. field — farmland
  21. wound — an injury
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. last — final

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