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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 120 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. drill — army training
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — the tool
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. rash — a series
  10. rash — hasty
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. hand — help
  14. row — a line
  15. chest — of your body
  16. drill — a practice
  17. field — farmland
  18. drill — the tool
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. kick — in football
  21. field — a subject
  22. row — to paddle
  23. field — for sport
  24. saw — past of 'see'

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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