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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. last — to go on
  3. chest — of your body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. chest — a box
  11. last — finally
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. mine — for digging
  16. field — farmland
  17. bat — the animal
  18. last — final
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. chest — of your body
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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