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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. jam — in traffic
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. root — the cause
  6. mine — for digging
  7. root — of a word
  8. chest — of your body
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. ball — a dance
  15. root — of a plant
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. chest — a box
  18. field — for sport
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. field — farmland
  23. chest — of your body
  24. field — a subject

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