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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. field — farmland
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. field — for sport
  8. mine — for digging
  9. chair — a leader
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. scale — in music
  12. row — to paddle
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. date — the fruit
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. row — a line
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. field — a subject
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. scale — for weighing

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