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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — help
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — for sport
  6. spell — letters
  7. spell — magic
  8. cell — a phone
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. hand — in cards
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. press — a publisher
  16. press — to push
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cell — in biology
  20. spell — a short time
  21. field — a subject
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. press — newspapers
  24. calf — of the leg

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