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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. field — a subject
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. file — a tool
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. object — an aim
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. sharp — clever
  17. stand — to bear
  18. object — to protest
  19. file — a document
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. stem — to come from
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. file — a line of people
  24. object — a thing

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