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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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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: straw · game · bank · net · kid · cold · fine · face

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bank — for money
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fine — high quality
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. fine — all right
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. kid — to tease
  13. face — to confront
  14. net — in sport
  15. kid — child
  16. face — part of the head
  17. bank — for money
  18. bank — of a river
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. net — for catching
  21. game — a match
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. net — after costs

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