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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: hand · bowl · face · field · lie · cap · tear · stand

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. field — farmland
  3. face — to point toward
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. field — a subject
  6. tear — to rip
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cap — a lid
  11. tear — from crying
  12. hand — help
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. face — to confront
  15. cap — a hat
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cap — of ice
  19. hand — in cards
  20. lie — to recline
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. stand — to bear
  23. field — for sport
  24. face — part of the head

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