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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. face — part of the head
  3. ground — a position
  4. ground — crushed
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. spell — a short time
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. ground — the earth
  10. field — farmland
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — a line
  13. field — for sport
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. fall — to drop
  16. cap — a hat
  17. spell — magic
  18. face — to point toward
  19. cap — a lid
  20. spell — letters
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cap — of ice
  23. face — to confront
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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