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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 124 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. chair — a leader
  3. swing — music
  4. field — farmland
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. saw — the tool
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. field — for sport
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. ground — crushed
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. swing — in golf
  18. saw — the tool
  19. wound — an injury
  20. ground — the earth
  21. swing — to play on
  22. land — to come down
  23. ground — a position
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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