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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. field — a subject
  3. saw — the tool
  4. chest — of your body
  5. field — farmland
  6. sharp — clever
  7. chair — a leader
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. chest — a box
  11. field — for sport
  12. game — a match
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. face — to point toward
  17. face — part of the head
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. wax — to grow
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. chest — of your body
  24. face — to confront

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