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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: face · ground · fall · rest · field · saw · cold · bark

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. face — part of the head
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. rest — what's left
  5. field — for sport
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. rest — what's left
  9. ground — the earth
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. saw — the tool
  12. fall — the season
  13. field — a subject
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. field — farmland
  16. fall — to drop
  17. rest — a break
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. face — to confront
  20. bark — to shout
  21. ground — a position
  22. saw — the tool
  23. ground — crushed
  24. fall — to drop

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