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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: race · chair · toast · rule · face · mine · coach · field

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. field — a subject
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. field — for sport
  6. mine — for digging
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. race — a contest
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. toast — bread
  12. rule — a law
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. face — part of the head
  15. race — humankind
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. face — to point toward
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. rule — government
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. field — farmland
  22. chair — a leader
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. race — the arms race

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