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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bat — the animal
  3. wound — an injury
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. hand — help
  8. mine — for digging
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. mate — a partner
  11. hand — in cards
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. field — farmland
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. sharp — clever
  17. field — for sport
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mate — to breed
  20. kid — child
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mate — a friend
  24. kid — to tease

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