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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 haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. field — farmland
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — a line
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. field — a subject
  10. cell — in biology
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. date — the fruit
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. shower — rain
  18. cell — a phone
  19. row — to paddle
  20. field — for sport
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. shower — to wash
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. date — on the calendar

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