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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. lean — to bend
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. lean — thin
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. face — to confront
  7. field — a subject
  8. fall — to drop
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. fall — to drop
  11. present — a gift
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. face — to point toward
  14. present — the time now
  15. field — farmland
  16. field — for sport
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. face — part of the head
  21. fall — the season
  22. present — there
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — money

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