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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pit — in a race
  8. field — for sport
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — for catching
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. field — a subject
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rush — hurry
  21. stem — to come from
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. pit — a hole
  24. field — farmland

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