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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: straw · ground · game · toast · land · file · face · spring

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. spring — a coil
  3. land — ground
  4. file — a line of people
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. land — to come down
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. ground — a position
  9. face — to confront
  10. spring — the season
  11. game — wild animals
  12. ground — crushed
  13. game — a match
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. spring — of water
  16. land — a country
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. face — part of the head
  19. file — a document
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. ground — the earth
  22. toast — bread
  23. face — to point toward
  24. file — a tool

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