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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. When will it ________________ you to start?
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. kid — to tease
  3. suit — clothes
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. face — to confront
  6. field — a subject
  7. march — the month
  8. face — to point toward
  9. kid — child
  10. suit — to fit
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. spring — of water
  13. face — part of the head
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — a box
  17. spring — a coil
  18. chest — of your body
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. march — the month
  21. march — music
  22. field — for sport
  23. spring — the season
  24. suit — in cards

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