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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. mine — for digging
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. face — to confront
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — for sport
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. field — a subject
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wake — a trail
  12. kid — child
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. field — farmland
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. kid — to tease
  20. face — part of the head
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. plane — a tool
  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