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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. foot — a measure
  4. net — after costs
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — a subject
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. board — to get on
  11. mine — for digging
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. hand — help
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. net — for catching
  22. net — in sport
  23. bat — the animal
  24. board — a committee

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