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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. net — for catching
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. field — a subject
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. cell — in biology
  8. wake — a trail
  9. chair — a leader
  10. net — in sport
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. net — after costs
  18. field — farmland
  19. kick — in football
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — a phone
  23. field — for sport
  24. tear — from crying

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