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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. suit — to fit
  3. hand — in cards
  4. chest — a box
  5. ground — the earth
  6. ground — a position
  7. chest — of your body
  8. kid — to tease
  9. stem — to come from
  10. chest — of your body
  11. suit — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. ground — crushed
  14. field — farmland
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. field — for sport
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. field — a subject
  21. kid — child
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. suit — clothes
  24. mine — for digging

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