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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. My mare is ________________ in color.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. snap — to click
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bound — obliged
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. bay — a horse colour
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. cold — not warm
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. field — a subject
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. hand — help
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. game — a match
  18. game — wild animals
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. hand — in cards
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. hand — part of the body

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