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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 like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cell — a phone
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. charge — electricity
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. charge — in control
  11. field — a subject
  12. cold — an illness
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cell — in biology
  18. dip — to sink
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. charge — a price
  23. field — farmland
  24. straw — dry grass

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