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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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. fall — to drop
  3. rest — what's left
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. rest — a break
  6. field — a subject
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. field — for sport
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. rest — what's left
  12. fall — the season
  13. file — a line of people
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. field — farmland
  16. scale — in music
  17. file — a tool
  18. bat — the animal
  19. hand — help
  20. fall — to drop
  21. file — a document
  22. game — wild animals
  23. hand — in cards
  24. game — a match

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