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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. capital — a city
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — a phone
  5. last — to go on
  6. field — a subject
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. last — finally
  9. face — to confront
  10. race — a contest
  11. last — final
  12. season — in sport
  13. face — part of the head
  14. field — for sport
  15. season — of the year
  16. face — to point toward
  17. race — the arms race
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. race — humankind
  21. field — farmland
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. capital — money

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