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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. field — a subject
  4. lean — to bend
  5. lean — thin
  6. chest — of your body
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. wound — an injury
  9. swing — to play on
  10. field — farmland
  11. craft — a skill
  12. chest — of your body
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. chest — a box
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. shower — rain
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — in golf
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. field — for sport
  24. lean — to rest against

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