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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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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 · chair · stock · pop · mine · board · lie · face

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. stock — goods
  3. pop — soda
  4. board — to get on
  5. field — farmland
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. board — a committee
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. field — for sport
  10. face — to point toward
  11. mine — for digging
  12. field — a subject
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. stock — shares
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. pop — to visit
  17. chair — a leader
  18. face — part of the head
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. lie — to recline
  21. pop — music
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. face — to confront
  24. mine — an explosive

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