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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 116 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. pop — soda
  4. stock — goods
  5. field — for sport
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. pop — music
  8. stock — shares
  9. bat — the animal
  10. row — a line
  11. pop — to visit
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. snap — to click
  14. rest — what's left
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. row — to paddle
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. scale — in music
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. scale — size or range
  22. rest — a break
  23. rest — what's left
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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