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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 120 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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. field — farmland
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. kick — in football
  5. field — a subject
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cell — a phone
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. field — for sport
  11. staff — employees
  12. cell — in biology
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. staff — a stick
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. arm — part of the body

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