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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 120 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: wound · face · chair · pit · bear · spring · kid · track

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. bear — the animal
  6. track — a song
  7. spring — the season
  8. wound — an injury
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. kid — child
  12. face — to point toward
  13. track — a path
  14. kid — to tease
  15. spring — a coil
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. face — part of the head
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pit — a hole
  20. pit — in a race
  21. track — to keep track
  22. chair — a leader
  23. spring — of water
  24. face — to confront

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