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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. track — a song
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. field — a subject
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. face — to confront
  8. capital — a city
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. capital — money
  11. field — farmland
  12. face — part of the head
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. track — to keep track
  15. ball — a dance
  16. tube — a container
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. wax — to grow
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. face — to point toward
  22. ball — a great time
  23. field — for sport
  24. tube — the underground

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