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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 116 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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. squash — the sport
  4. game — a match
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. field — a subject
  9. track — a path
  10. wound — an injury
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. track — a song
  13. hand — in cards
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. tube — the underground
  19. stem — to come from
  20. wound — an injury
  21. game — wild animals
  22. squash — to crush
  23. hand — help
  24. tube — a container

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