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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. charge — a price
  4. field — for sport
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. bay — to keep at bay
  8. toast — bread
  9. race — humankind
  10. mine — for digging
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. race — the arms race
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. race — a contest
  17. file — a document
  18. field — farmland
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. charge — electricity
  21. file — a tool
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. field — a subject
  24. charge — in control

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