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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — for digging
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. field — farmland
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. clip — for paper
  8. face — to confront
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — a subject
  11. march — the month
  12. face — part of the head
  13. root — of a word
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. face — to point toward
  16. march — the month
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. root — of a plant
  19. clip — a video
  20. march — music
  21. hand — in cards
  22. root — the cause
  23. hand — help
  24. clip — to cut

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