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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · wake · plane · file · face · band · kick · sharp

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. band — a ring
  3. plane — a tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. sharp — clever
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. cold — not warm
  8. band — a music group
  9. file — a tool
  10. face — to point toward
  11. wake — a trail
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. face — part of the head
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. file — a document
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. face — to confront
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. cold — an illness
  23. file — a line of people
  24. sharp — with an edge

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