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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: face · mine · land · dip · bound · field · sharp · fall

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. bound — obliged
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. mine — for digging
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. bound — certain
  7. field — a subject
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. land — to come down
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. fall — the season
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. fall — to drop
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. face — part of the head
  18. bound — tied together
  19. sharp — clever
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. land — ground
  22. land — a country
  23. face — to point toward
  24. dip — to sink

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