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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 120 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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. field — a subject
  4. track — a song
  5. spell — magic
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. last — finally
  8. spell — a short time
  9. track — a path
  10. last — final
  11. spell — letters
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. last — to go on
  15. stem — to come from
  16. snap — to click
  17. track — to keep track
  18. chest — a box
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — farmland
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. chest — of your body
  24. row — to paddle

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