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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 120 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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. squash — the sport
  3. drill — a practice
  4. ground — crushed
  5. track — to keep track
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. track — a path
  8. land — to come down
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. field — farmland
  11. chest — a box
  12. track — a song
  13. ground — a position
  14. squash — to crush
  15. chest — of your body
  16. drill — the tool
  17. land — a country
  18. craft — boats
  19. drill — army training
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — a subject
  22. land — ground
  23. ground — the earth
  24. chest — of your body

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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