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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: kid · face · net · field · wake · cabinet · lean · bat

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. kid — child
  3. lean — to bend
  4. face — part of the head
  5. lean — thin
  6. field — for sport
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. wake — a trail
  10. net — in sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. net — for catching
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. face — to confront
  17. net — after costs
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — to tease
  24. field — farmland

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