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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mate — a partner
  3. key — for a lock
  4. bat — the animal
  5. face — to confront
  6. field — for sport
  7. bulb — for light
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. field — farmland
  11. key — the most important part
  12. face — part of the head
  13. field — a subject
  14. spring — the season
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  18. mate — a friend
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. key — in music
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. bulb — for light
  23. face — to point toward
  24. mate — to breed

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