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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. field — farmland
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. board — to get on
  5. capital — money
  6. board — a committee
  7. pit — a hole
  8. pit — in a race
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — to trim
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. field — for sport
  13. row — to paddle
  14. face — to confront
  15. row — a line
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. root — of a word
  19. field — a subject
  20. capital — a city
  21. face — part of the head
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — the cause

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