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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  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. field — for sport
  2. rock — music
  3. spring — a coil
  4. face — to point toward
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. face — to confront
  8. chest — of your body
  9. rock — a stone
  10. sharp — clever
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. chest — of your body
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. spring — of water
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — farmland
  19. spring — the season
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. chest — a box
  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