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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. game — wild animals
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. field — farmland
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. wound — an injury
  13. can — a tin
  14. can — a tin
  15. pit — in a race
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bat — the animal
  20. game — a match
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. pit — a hole

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