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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: pop · march · spring · chest · stem · toast · face · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. march — the month
  3. face — to point toward
  4. pop — to visit
  5. stem — to come from
  6. face — to confront
  7. toast — bread
  8. chest — of your body
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. pop — soda
  11. face — part of the head
  12. march — the month
  13. field — for sport
  14. chest — a box
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. spring — the season
  18. march — music
  19. field — a subject
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — of water
  22. chest — of your body
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. pop — music

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