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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. cell — in biology
  6. swing — to play on
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. field — a subject
  9. rash — a series
  10. cell — a phone
  11. field — farmland
  12. chest — of your body
  13. field — for sport
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. swing — music
  17. chest — of your body
  18. swing — in golf
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. chest — a box
  22. branch — a division
  23. kick — in football
  24. pitcher — a jug

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