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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. spell — letters
  3. fine — all right
  4. shower — to wash
  5. field — farmland
  6. mug — a cup
  7. mug — to rob
  8. spell — a short time
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. rush — hurry
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. mug — a face
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. fine — high quality
  16. cell — a phone
  17. field — for sport
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — to tease
  20. field — a subject
  21. cell — in biology
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. spell — magic

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