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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: row · face · ground · field · staff · tear · squash · spring

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — farmland
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. row — to paddle
  5. squash — to crush
  6. staff — a stick
  7. face — to confront
  8. tear — to rip
  9. row — a line
  10. face — to point toward
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. staff — employees
  13. field — for sport
  14. staff — employees
  15. face — part of the head
  16. spring — of water
  17. field — a subject
  18. ground — the earth
  19. ground — a position
  20. tear — from crying
  21. squash — the sport
  22. ground — crushed
  23. tear — from crying
  24. spring — the season

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