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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wound — an injury
  3. field — a subject
  4. face — part of the head
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. face — to confront
  8. ball — a dance
  9. mate — a partner
  10. mate — to breed
  11. kick — in football
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. field — for sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. mate — a friend
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. face — to point toward
  18. field — farmland
  19. ball — a great time
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wind — moving air
  24. kick — with a leg

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