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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. field — farmland
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. mug — a face
  7. drill — a practice
  8. mug — a cup
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. drill — army training
  15. chest — of your body
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. chest — a box
  19. clip — a video
  20. mug — to rob
  21. field — for sport
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. clip — to cut

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