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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: face · hand · pound · safe · cold · coach · clip · saw

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. face — part of the head
  7. hand — in cards
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. face — to point toward
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. hand — help
  12. safe — a strongbox
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — a video
  17. saw — the tool
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. saw — the tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pound — a weight

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