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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: last · field · game · sharp · face · row · file · lie

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. last — final
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. file — a document
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. face — to point toward
  9. last — to go on
  10. file — a tool
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. game — a match
  13. field — a subject
  14. sharp — clever
  15. face — to confront
  16. file — a line of people
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. row — a line
  19. field — farmland
  20. row — to paddle
  21. face — part of the head
  22. last — finally
  23. field — for sport
  24. lie — to recline

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