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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  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. pound — to hit hard
  2. field — a subject
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. field — farmland
  5. bat — the animal
  6. last — final
  7. saw — the tool
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — letters
  10. deal — to handle
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. pound — a weight
  13. last — to go on
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. last — finally
  18. saw — the tool
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. spell — a short time
  22. field — for sport
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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