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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wind — moving air
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. wound — an injury
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. rest — what's left
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. march — the month
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — letters
  12. rest — what's left
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wind — moving air
  16. march — the month
  17. lie — to recline
  18. march — music
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. plane — a tool
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — for sport
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. rest — a break

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