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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. field — for sport
  5. face — part of the head
  6. season — of the year
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. field — farmland
  9. spring — of water
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. last — final
  12. saw — the tool
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. season — in sport
  16. face — to confront
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. face — to point toward
  19. spring — a coil
  20. last — finally
  21. branch — a division
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. field — a subject
  24. spring — the season

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