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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 116 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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. field — for sport
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. bat — the animal
  8. mug — a cup
  9. mug — to rob
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a document
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. game — a match
  15. field — a subject
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — farmland
  19. fork — in a road
  20. file — a tool
  21. mug — a face
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. cold — an illness

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