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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 assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. net — in sport
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. shower — rain
  6. field — farmland
  7. clip — to cut
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. shower — to wash
  10. staff — a stick
  11. cell — a phone
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. net — for catching
  15. staff — employees
  16. bore — to tire
  17. fine — high quality
  18. net — after costs
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. clip — a video
  22. staff — employees
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bore — to drill

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