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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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. face — to confront
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. face — to point toward
  8. field — a subject
  9. game — a match
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. face — part of the head
  12. file — a line of people
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. dip — to sink
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. rush — hurry
  19. root — of a word
  20. field — farmland
  21. root — of a plant
  22. game — wild animals
  23. pound — a weight
  24. field — for sport

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