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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. last — final
  3. face — to confront
  4. fall — to drop
  5. kick — in football
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. chair — a leader
  12. field — farmland
  13. last — to go on
  14. spring — the season
  15. face — part of the head
  16. fall — the season
  17. field — a subject
  18. roll — a list
  19. field — for sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — a coil
  22. roll — a cake
  23. last — finally
  24. fall — to drop

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