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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. face — to confront
  3. chair — a leader
  4. field — for sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. face — to point toward
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. mate — a partner
  10. mate — a friend
  11. rush — hurry
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. wind — moving air
  16. face — part of the head
  17. chip — for betting
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. mate — to breed
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. field — farmland
  22. chip — to eat
  23. wind — moving air
  24. field — a subject

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