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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: field · mouse · chest · season · bound · hand · land · face

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. face — to point toward
  3. field — farmland
  4. chest — of your body
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. season — in sport
  7. land — a country
  8. hand — in cards
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bound — tied together
  11. face — part of the head
  12. season — of the year
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. bound — obliged
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. field — for sport
  20. bound — certain
  21. land — ground
  22. land — to come down
  23. face — to confront
  24. field — a subject

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