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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 120 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. wind — moving air
  3. field — a subject
  4. firm — a company
  5. row — a line
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — for sport
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. rest — a break
  11. rest — what's left
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. row — to paddle
  16. firm — steady
  17. chair — a leader
  18. face — to point toward
  19. face — part of the head
  20. rest — what's left
  21. firm — decided
  22. face — to confront
  23. wind — moving air
  24. tube — the underground

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