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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. wind — moving air
  4. stock — shares
  5. wind — moving air
  6. face — part of the head
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — farmland
  9. face — to confront
  10. land — ground
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. dip — to sink
  13. stock — goods
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. land — a country
  16. land — to come down
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. field — for sport

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