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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 116 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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  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. mate — a friend
  2. face — to confront
  3. hand — help
  4. field — a subject
  5. face — part of the head
  6. branch — a division
  7. bat — the animal
  8. field — farmland
  9. chip — for betting
  10. mate — a partner
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. face — to point toward
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. hand — in cards
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rush — hurry
  19. mate — to breed
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chip — to eat
  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