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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. face — to point toward
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — a position
  7. file — a tool
  8. prune — to trim
  9. game — wild animals
  10. prune — to trim
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. face — part of the head
  17. face — to confront
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. file — a line of people
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. stem — to come from
  22. game — a match
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. file — a document

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