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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. hand — help
  3. field — farmland
  4. race — humankind
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. mark — a grade
  7. ball — a great time
  8. field — for sport
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. race — the arms race
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. band — a ring
  15. field — a subject
  16. band — a music group
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. race — a contest
  19. hand — in cards
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. ball — a dance
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. snap — to click
  24. mark — a trace

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