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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: wound · cold · hand · date · race · can · foot · face

  1. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cold — an illness
  4. race — the arms race
  5. foot — a measure
  6. face — to confront
  7. can — a tin
  8. hand — in cards
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. face — to point toward
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. race — humankind
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. date — the fruit
  17. hand — help
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. can — a tin
  20. race — a contest
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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