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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. drill — a practice
  3. land — ground
  4. rock — a stone
  5. rock — music
  6. field — a subject
  7. drill — the tool
  8. game — a match
  9. fall — the season
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. fall — to drop
  12. game — wild animals
  13. fall — to drop
  14. face — to point toward
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. pound — a weight
  17. face — part of the head
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. drill — army training
  20. field — farmland
  21. land — a country
  22. land — to come down
  23. field — for sport
  24. game — a kind of play

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