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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. field — farmland
  4. cap — of ice
  5. field — a subject
  6. face — part of the head
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. cap — a hat
  9. rest — a break
  10. hand — help
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. rest — what's left
  13. field — for sport
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. cap — a lid
  16. race — humankind
  17. rest — what's left
  18. race — a contest
  19. file — a line of people
  20. race — the arms race
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. face — to confront
  24. hand — in cards

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