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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 ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. net — after costs
  3. shower — to wash
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. face — to point toward
  7. field — farmland
  8. face — to confront
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — a country
  12. net — for catching
  13. net — in sport
  14. wax — to grow
  15. land — ground
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. field — for sport
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bat — the animal
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. shower — rain
  22. face — part of the head
  23. field — a subject
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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