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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 124 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'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. wound — an injury
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. field — a subject
  7. content — happy
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. spell — magic
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. cue — for pool
  12. wound — an injury
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. cue — a signal
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. field — for sport
  20. content — the amount
  21. spell — letters
  22. spell — a short time
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. field — farmland

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