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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 120 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. tear — to rip
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bass — low music
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. field — a subject
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. tear — from crying
  13. mark — a grade
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. field — for sport
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. mark — a trace
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. field — farmland
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. bass — the fish

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