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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wound — an injury
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. wound — an injury
  6. board — a committee
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. kid — to tease
  9. present — a gift
  10. shower — to wash
  11. vault — a safe
  12. field — a subject
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. row — a line
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. present — the time now
  17. board — to get on
  18. field — for sport
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. kid — child
  21. shower — rain
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. present — there
  24. row — to paddle

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