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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: shower · face · file · spring · tear · pitch · cabinet · chest

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. spring — the season
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. face — part of the head
  5. shower — rain
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. shower — to wash
  9. chest — of your body
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. file — a tool
  15. face — to confront
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. pitch — completely
  19. spring — of water
  20. file — a document
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — of your body
  23. file — a line of people
  24. chest — a box

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