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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. ground — the earth
  4. field — farmland
  5. stem — to come from
  6. roll — a cake
  7. field — a subject
  8. mine — for digging
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. roll — a list
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. wound — an injury
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. face — to point toward
  16. wound — an injury
  17. face — part of the head
  18. face — to confront
  19. ground — a position
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. field — for sport
  22. date — the fruit
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. ground — crushed

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