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

Word bank: season · field · deal · cell · tear · swing · face · last

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. last — final
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. swing — music
  5. field — a subject
  6. deal — to handle
  7. deal — a big deal
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. face — to confront
  10. last — to go on
  11. face — to point toward
  12. tear — from crying
  13. swing — to play on
  14. field — for sport
  15. season — in sport
  16. face — part of the head
  17. cell — in biology
  18. swing — in golf
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. tear — from crying
  21. field — farmland
  22. tear — to rip
  23. season — of the year
  24. last — finally

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