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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — a match
  4. ground — crushed
  5. rest — a break
  6. cold — not warm
  7. face — part of the head
  8. field — for sport
  9. game — wild animals
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pit — in a race
  12. pit — a hole
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. face — to confront
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. ground — a position
  18. rest — what's left
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. ground — the earth
  21. rest — what's left
  22. foot — a measure
  23. field — a subject
  24. face — to point toward

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