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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: mate · net · season · face · tear · spring · pitch · field

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. net — after costs
  4. mate — to breed
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. face — to point toward
  7. season — in sport
  8. face — to confront
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — of water
  11. tear — from crying
  12. net — for catching
  13. tear — to rip
  14. field — a subject
  15. tear — from crying
  16. net — in sport
  17. spring — a coil
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — for sport
  20. mate — a friend
  21. pitch — completely
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. mate — a partner

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