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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. field — farmland
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. net — for catching
  6. field — a subject
  7. present — there
  8. race — a contest
  9. present — the time now
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — in sport
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. field — for sport
  14. prune — to trim
  15. race — the arms race
  16. object — an aim
  17. race — humankind
  18. prune — to trim
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — to protest
  21. bat — the animal
  22. wake — a trail
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. present — a gift

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