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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. squash — to crush
  3. field — a subject
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. row — to paddle
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. hand — help
  9. field — farmland
  10. pass — a permit
  11. row — a line
  12. field — for sport
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards

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