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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. fine — all right
  4. swing — to play on
  5. spring — a coil
  6. game — wild animals
  7. spring — of water
  8. field — farmland
  9. sharp — clever
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. swing — in golf
  12. field — a subject
  13. spring — the season
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. swing — music
  16. game — a match
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bound — tied together
  19. field — for sport
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bound — certain
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. bound — obliged

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