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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. shower — to wash
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rush — hurry
  5. field — for sport
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. field — farmland
  11. fine — all right
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. field — a subject
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. stock — goods
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. shower — rain
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. stem — to come from
  21. stock — shares
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. calf — a young animal

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