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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. face — to point toward
  3. wound — an injury
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. field — a subject
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. field — farmland
  8. net — for catching
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. net — in sport
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. face — part of the head
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. march — music
  17. face — to confront
  18. march — the month
  19. shower — rain
  20. field — for sport
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. net — after costs
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. march — the month

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