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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. field — for sport
  3. last — final
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. last — to go on
  6. cue — for pool
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. field — a subject
  9. last — finally
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. cue — a signal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. field — farmland
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cue — a hint
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. cell — a phone

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