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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 120 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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. chip — to eat
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. present — the time now
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. present — there
  11. field — a subject
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. foot — a measure
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bear — the animal
  17. face — part of the head
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. face — to point toward
  20. chip — for betting
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. present — a gift

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