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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · mine · bore · chip · cold · wound · face · band

  1. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. chip — to eat
  5. bore — to tire
  6. bore — to drill
  7. face — to point toward
  8. chip — for betting
  9. mine — for digging
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — in cards
  14. cold — not warm
  15. hand — help
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a ring
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. face — to confront
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a music group
  22. face — part of the head
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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