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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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bore — to tire
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. face — to confront
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — for sport
  11. squash — the sport
  12. face — to point toward
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. rash — a series
  15. face — part of the head
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. game — a match
  18. squash — to crush
  19. bore — to drill
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. game — wild animals
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. rash — hasty
  24. bat — the animal

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