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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. shower — to wash
  3. field — farmland
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mark — a grade
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. ball — a great time
  8. face — part of the head
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. wind — moving air
  12. shower — rain
  13. bulb — for light
  14. date — the fruit
  15. field — for sport
  16. face — to point toward
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. bulb — for light
  19. face — to confront
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. wind — moving air
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. ball — a dance

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