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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. field — for sport
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. sharp — clever
  5. scale — size or range
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bound — tied together
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cell — a phone
  10. field — farmland
  11. spell — a short time
  12. cell — in biology
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. field — a subject
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. bound — certain
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bound — obliged
  19. scale — in music
  20. spell — letters
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. spell — magic
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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