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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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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: field · mine · wave · bat · squash · lean · face · land

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. squash — the sport
  4. face — part of the head
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. lean — to bend
  8. bat — the animal
  9. field — farmland
  10. lean — thin
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. field — a subject
  14. land — a country
  15. mine — for digging
  16. face — to confront
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. field — for sport
  19. squash — to crush
  20. land — to come down
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. face — to point toward

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