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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. race — humankind
  3. march — the month
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. prune — to trim
  6. field — a subject
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bat — the animal
  9. can — to be able to
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. field — farmland
  13. race — the arms race
  14. chest — of your body
  15. prune — to trim
  16. can — a tin
  17. chest — a box
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. march — music
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. march — the month
  22. snap — to click
  23. race — a contest
  24. can — a tin

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