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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. field — for sport
  3. sharp — clever
  4. cell — in biology
  5. game — wild animals
  6. stand — to bear
  7. mug — a face
  8. clip — for paper
  9. game — a match
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. clip — to cut
  12. drill — the tool
  13. clip — a video
  14. field — a subject
  15. cell — a phone
  16. mug — to rob
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — army training
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. field — farmland
  24. stand — for spectators

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