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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 120 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: lie · cold · saw · chair · face · last · cell · pitch

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. cell — a phone
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. cell — in biology
  6. face — to confront
  7. face — to point toward
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. lie — to recline
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. last — final
  17. face — part of the head
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. saw — the tool
  20. pitch — completely
  21. chair — a leader
  22. saw — the tool
  23. last — to go on
  24. cold — an illness

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