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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. drill — the tool
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. kid — child
  6. face — part of the head
  7. file — a tool
  8. scale — size or range
  9. field — a subject
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. kid — to tease
  12. drill — army training
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. face — to point toward
  15. field — farmland
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. deal — to handle
  18. file — a document
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. drill — a practice
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. file — a line of people
  23. scale — in music
  24. field — for sport

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