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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. field — farmland
  3. chest — of your body
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. field — a subject
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. hand — help
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. band — a music group
  11. chest — of your body
  12. pop — to visit
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. craft — a skill
  16. band — a ring
  17. chest — a box
  18. pop — soda
  19. snap — to click
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. pop — music
  22. craft — boats
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. field — for sport

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