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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 116 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. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. cell — a phone
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. spell — letters
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. spring — the season
  8. board — a committee
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. board — to get on
  11. spring — of water
  12. field — a subject
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. cell — in biology
  17. field — for sport
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. spell — a short time
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spell — magic
  23. field — farmland
  24. snap — to click

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