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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. mine — for digging
  3. net — in sport
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cell — a phone
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cell — in biology
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. wax — to grow
  15. field — a subject
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. net — for catching
  19. spell — letters
  20. spell — magic
  21. net — after costs
  22. field — farmland
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. bat — the animal

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