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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. game — wild animals
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. chest — a box
  6. game — a match
  7. kid — child
  8. field — for sport
  9. drill — a practice
  10. field — farmland
  11. chest — of your body
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. kid — to tease
  14. drill — army training
  15. cell — in biology
  16. field — a subject
  17. club — for golf
  18. rush — hurry
  19. chest — of your body
  20. club — a group
  21. club — for dancing
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. drill — the tool
  24. cell — in a prison

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