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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. field — farmland
  3. hand — help
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. snap — to click
  7. tube — a container
  8. charge — in control
  9. mate — to breed
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. ground — the earth
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. ground — a position
  16. hand — in cards
  17. ground — crushed
  18. tube — the underground
  19. shower — to wash
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. mate — a friend
  22. mate — a partner
  23. charge — a price
  24. shower — rain

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