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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cell — in biology
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. squash — the sport
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. field — for sport
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chest — of your body
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. sharp — clever
  14. field — farmland
  15. lean — to bend
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. squash — to crush
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. mine — for digging
  20. cell — a phone
  21. lean — thin
  22. field — a subject
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. chest — a box

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