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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. land — ground
  6. row — to paddle
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chair — a leader
  10. face — to confront
  11. field — a subject
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. face — to point toward
  14. field — farmland
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. row — a line
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. field — for sport
  20. land — a country
  21. land — to come down
  22. snap — to click
  23. bat — the animal
  24. face — part of the head

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