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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. field — for sport
  3. drill — a practice
  4. field — farmland
  5. kid — child
  6. mate — a friend
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. drill — army training
  10. mate — to breed
  11. mate — a partner
  12. track — to keep track
  13. track — a song
  14. kid — to tease
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. deal — to handle
  20. field — a subject
  21. track — a path
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. drill — the tool

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