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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. rash — hasty
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wake — a trail
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. rock — music
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. rash — a series
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. mine — for digging
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. rush — hurry
  19. field — farmland
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rock — a stone

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