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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. face — to confront
  5. spring — the season
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — farmland
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. field — for sport
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. spring — a coil
  12. rash — a series
  13. race — a contest
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. rash — hasty
  16. row — to paddle
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. race — the arms race
  19. race — humankind
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. spring — of water
  22. face — to point toward
  23. row — a line
  24. face — part of the head

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