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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — farmland
  3. snap — to click
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. sharp — clever
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. field — a subject
  12. hand — in cards
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. spring — the season
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. hand — help
  18. club — for golf
  19. spring — of water
  20. club — a group
  21. perch — the fish
  22. pass — a permit
  23. spring — a coil
  24. club — for dancing

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