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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. field — for sport
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. field — farmland
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. bat — the animal
  10. drill — the tool
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. lean — thin
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. kick — in football
  15. drill — army training
  16. fork — in a road
  17. lean — to bend
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. drill — a practice
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. stem — to come from
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. field — a subject

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