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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: bear · lie · face · tear · cold · pound · cap · chest

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cap — a lid
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. face — to point toward
  8. lie — to recline
  9. cap — of ice
  10. tear — from crying
  11. face — part of the head
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. chest — a box
  14. bear — the animal
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tear — to rip
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. bear — the animal
  20. cap — a hat
  21. pound — a weight
  22. chest — of your body
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. pound — for dogs

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