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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. row — to paddle
  4. field — farmland
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. spell — magic
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. field — a subject
  9. band — a music group
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. scale — size or range
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. spell — letters
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. cue — a signal
  19. cue — a hint
  20. band — a ring
  21. cue — for pool
  22. field — for sport
  23. spell — a short time
  24. scale — in music

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