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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: cold · bay · face · land · hand · trunk · fall · row

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. land — to come down
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. fall — the season
  5. face — part of the head
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. land — a country
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. cold — not warm
  13. fall — to drop
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. row — a line
  17. land — ground
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. face — to confront
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. face — to point toward
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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