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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. march — the month
  3. kid — to tease
  4. field — a subject
  5. wake — a trail
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. spring — the season
  8. game — wild animals
  9. spring — a coil
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. field — farmland
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spring — of water
  17. game — a match
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. march — music
  22. field — for sport
  23. march — the month
  24. straw — a straw man

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