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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. march — music
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. field — for sport
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — child
  7. cell — in biology
  8. board — a committee
  9. march — the month
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bat — the animal
  12. drill — the tool
  13. field — farmland
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. drill — army training
  16. cell — a phone
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. drill — a practice
  22. field — a subject
  23. kid — to tease
  24. board — to get on

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