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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. key — for a lock
  3. field — farmland
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. sharp — clever
  8. hand — help
  9. bat — the animal
  10. key — the most important part
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. field — a subject
  14. key — in music
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. pitch — completely
  17. board — a committee
  18. drill — a practice
  19. drill — army training
  20. board — to get on
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. field — for sport
  24. drill — the tool

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