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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 116 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: patient · field · saw · mate · swing · cold · lash · face

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. swing — to play on
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — to breed
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. face — to point toward
  8. field — farmland
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. saw — the tool
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. swing — music
  13. saw — the tool
  14. face — part of the head
  15. mate — a friend
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. field — for sport
  20. cold — not warm
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — an illness
  24. field — a subject

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