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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. mug — a face
  3. spring — of water
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. spring — the season
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. field — farmland
  11. mug — to rob
  12. shower — rain
  13. field — for sport
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. shower — to wash
  17. mug — a cup
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. scale — in music
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — size or range
  24. racket — for tennis

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