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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. face — to point toward
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. face — to confront
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. fine — high quality
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. fine — all right
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. file — a tool
  12. chair — a leader
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. field — for sport
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a line of people
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. field — a subject
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. face — part of the head
  24. field — farmland

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