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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: rock · face · row · pitch · snap · last · mine · field

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. face — part of the head
  5. field — for sport
  6. mine — for digging
  7. row — to paddle
  8. pitch — completely
  9. last — to go on
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. last — final
  12. field — farmland
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. field — a subject
  15. face — to point toward
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. row — a line
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. last — finally
  20. face — to confront
  21. snap — to click
  22. rock — music
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. rock — a stone

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