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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. staff — employees
  3. cold — not warm
  4. land — a country
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. field — for sport
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. field — farmland
  14. land — ground
  15. craft — boats
  16. craft — a skill
  17. cold — an illness
  18. staff — employees
  19. land — to come down
  20. field — a subject
  21. chest — a box
  22. bore — to drill
  23. bore — to tire
  24. bore — gave birth

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