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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. field — a subject
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. hand — in cards
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. last — final
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. scale — size or range
  15. field — farmland
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. scale — in music
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. last — finally
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. field — for sport
  24. last — to go on

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