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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. field — a subject
  3. cell — in biology
  4. saw — the tool
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. row — a line
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. field — farmland
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. field — for sport
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. stock — goods
  17. stock — shares
  18. snap — to click
  19. pit — in a race
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cell — a phone
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wake — a trail

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