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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. spring — a coil
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. lie — to recline
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. field — farmland
  12. face — to confront
  13. chest — of your body
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. spring — the season
  17. chest — of your body
  18. field — a subject
  19. face — part of the head
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. field — for sport
  22. spring — of water
  23. chest — a box
  24. calf — a young animal

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