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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. toast — bread
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. face — part of the head
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — a subject
  8. field — for sport
  9. board — to get on
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. face — to point toward
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. face — to confront
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. field — farmland
  19. board — a committee
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wax — to grow
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. cold — not warm

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