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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 116 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: pitcher · craft · court · spell · saw · face · land · ground

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. court — of law
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ground — a position
  5. saw — the tool
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. craft — a skill
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. land — a country
  10. court — of a king
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. spell — letters
  13. ground — the earth
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. spell — magic
  16. saw — the tool
  17. court — for sport
  18. land — ground
  19. face — to point toward
  20. craft — boats
  21. spell — a short time
  22. face — part of the head
  23. land — to come down
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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