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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: wound · wake · fan · leaves · field · face · game · track

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a match
  3. face — to confront
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. wake — a trail
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. face — to point toward
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. track — to keep track
  13. track — a path
  14. track — a song
  15. field — for sport
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. field — farmland
  20. face — part of the head
  21. field — a subject
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. wound — an injury

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