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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. chest — of your body
  4. field — farmland
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. band — a ring
  7. chest — of your body
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. field — a subject
  15. bat — the animal
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. kick — in football
  20. field — for sport
  21. band — a music group
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chest — a box
  24. dip — to dunk

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