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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. charge — electricity
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. hand — help
  5. chest — of your body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. field — for sport
  9. prune — to trim
  10. chest — a box
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. charge — a price
  13. field — a subject
  14. chest — of your body
  15. charge — in control
  16. scale — in music
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. saw — the tool
  21. field — farmland
  22. saw — the tool
  23. scale — size or range
  24. wake — a trail

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