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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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468
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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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. My mare is ________________ in color.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. track — a path
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. track — to keep track
  6. cap — a lid
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cap — of ice
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. hand — help
  11. cap — a hat
  12. chest — a box
  13. kid — to tease
  14. chest — of your body
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. field — for sport
  17. kid — child
  18. field — farmland
  19. track — a song
  20. chest — of your body
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bay — a horse colour
  23. field — a subject
  24. wind — moving air

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