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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — farmland
  4. saw — the tool
  5. bore — to tire
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. mine — for digging
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. saw — the tool
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. scale — size or range
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. bore — to drill
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. scale — in music
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. field — a subject
  23. shower — rain
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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