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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. field — a subject
  3. face — part of the head
  4. stem — to come from
  5. fork — in a road
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. kid — to tease
  10. race — a contest
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. face — to point toward
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. bat — the animal
  18. kid — child
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. face — to confront
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. race — humankind

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