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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. club — for dancing
  5. chest — of your body
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — to tease
  8. field — farmland
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. mate — a friend
  11. chest — a box
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cell — in biology
  14. club — a group
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bat — the animal
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. spell — a short time
  19. mate — a partner
  20. spell — magic
  21. kid — child
  22. spell — letters
  23. field — for sport
  24. mate — to breed

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