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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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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: stem · bat · snap · prune · face · field · net · wind

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. face — to confront
  3. stem — to come from
  4. net — for catching
  5. wind — moving air
  6. net — in sport
  7. field — a subject
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. face — part of the head
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. field — farmland
  15. snap — to click
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. bat — the animal
  19. field — for sport
  20. face — to point toward
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. net — after costs
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — to trim

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