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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. face — to point toward
  3. mine — for digging
  4. field — a subject
  5. spring — a coil
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — for sport
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. rest — what's left
  12. spring — of water
  13. chair — a leader
  14. rest — what's left
  15. wound — an injury
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. face — part of the head
  19. wound — an injury
  20. band — a music group
  21. face — to confront
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. band — a ring
  24. spring — the season

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