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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. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. chest — of your body
  3. row — a line
  4. field — a subject
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. branch — a division
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. hand — help
  13. chest — a box
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. chest — of your body
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. wake — a trail
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. saw — the tool
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a quarrel

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