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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: coach · clip · bore · face · march · race · lean · field

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. race — a contest
  4. face — part of the head
  5. lean — thin
  6. field — a subject
  7. race — humankind
  8. field — for sport
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. race — the arms race
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. bore — to tire
  16. face — to confront
  17. field — farmland
  18. bore — to drill
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. clip — to cut
  22. march — music
  23. face — to point toward
  24. coach — a trainer

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