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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 need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. bat — the animal
  3. last — finally
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. chair — a leader
  6. last — final
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. squash — to crush
  9. field — a subject
  10. present — a gift
  11. field — farmland
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. drill — a practice
  16. last — to go on
  17. stem — to come from
  18. field — for sport
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. present — there
  21. squash — the sport
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. present — the time now
  24. drill — army training

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