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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. field — a subject
  3. toast — bread
  4. shower — rain
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. field — farmland
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. pit — in a race
  13. mine — for digging
  14. hand — in cards
  15. pit — a hole
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. face — part of the head
  18. face — to point toward
  19. shower — to wash
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. field — for sport
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. hand — help

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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