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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. present — there
  3. field — a subject
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. game — a match
  6. present — a gift
  7. bass — low music
  8. swing — music
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. game — wild animals
  12. swing — to play on
  13. field — for sport
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. bore — to tire
  16. swing — in golf
  17. field — farmland
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. present — the time now
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bore — to drill
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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