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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: face · tear · nail · mine · saw · chest · cold · stem

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. saw — the tool
  14. mine — for digging
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. saw — the tool
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. face — to point toward
  21. tear — to rip
  22. face — to confront
  23. face — part of the head
  24. nail — for a hammer

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