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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  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 — part of the head
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. field — a subject
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. face — to point toward
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. face — to confront
  16. deal — to handle
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. plane — a tool
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. hand — help
  23. straw — a straw man
  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