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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. plane — a tool
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. rash — a series
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bear — the animal
  10. field — a subject
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. bear — the animal
  14. game — a match
  15. wake — a trail
  16. field — for sport
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. field — farmland
  19. rash — hasty
  20. game — wild animals
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rash — on the skin

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