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

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. face — to point toward
  3. net — for catching
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. game — a match
  6. mate — a friend
  7. net — in sport
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. net — after costs
  10. mate — a partner
  11. chair — a leader
  12. face — to confront
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. game — wild animals
  17. face — part of the head
  18. pitch — a sports field

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