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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: cold · bound · face · fine · tear · current · spring · chest

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. cold — not warm
  3. face — to confront
  4. chest — of your body
  5. tear — from crying
  6. current — electric
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — of water
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spring — the season
  11. bound — obliged
  12. current — of water
  13. face — part of the head
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — all right
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. current — happening now
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bound — tied together
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. face — to point toward
  24. bound — certain

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