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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. board — a committee
  3. kid — child
  4. shower — rain
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. chest — of your body
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. field — farmland
  10. kid — to tease
  11. field — a subject
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — a box
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. shower — to wash
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. safe — a strongbox
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. board — to get on
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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