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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. club — for dancing
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. face — to confront
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. capital — a city
  8. wind — moving air
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. face — part of the head
  12. capital — money
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. wind — moving air
  15. club — a group
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. field — for sport
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. pound — a weight
  21. face — to point toward
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. club — for golf

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