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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 116 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: spring · cold · deal · branch · hide · dip · wound · face

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. spring — a coil
  6. deal — to handle
  7. face — to confront
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. face — part of the head
  10. wound — an injury
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. dip — to sink
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — the season
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — not warm
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. branch — a division
  23. face — to point toward
  24. spring — of water

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