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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. roll — a list
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. last — final
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. mark — a trace
  13. roll — a cake
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. last — finally
  19. last — to go on
  20. cold — an illness
  21. mark — a grade
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. arm — part of the body

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