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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chest — of your body
  7. firm — steady
  8. firm — decided
  9. chest — of your body
  10. deal — to handle
  11. spring — of water
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. chest — a box
  14. bore — to drill
  15. bore — to tire
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. foot — a measure
  18. field — farmland
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. field — a subject
  22. firm — a company
  23. field — for sport
  24. deal — an agreement

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