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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 116 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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. file — a line of people
  3. content — the amount
  4. field — for sport
  5. content — happy
  6. drill — army training
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. season — of the year
  9. field — a subject
  10. drill — a practice
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cell — in biology
  13. drill — the tool
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. field — farmland
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — in sport
  19. cell — a phone
  20. file — a tool
  21. face — to confront
  22. file — a document
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. face — to point toward

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