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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. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. suit — to fit
  3. mine — for digging
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. wound — an injury
  6. sharp — clever
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. field — a subject
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. kid — to tease
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — farmland
  18. kid — child
  19. suit — clothes
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. wound — an injury
  24. straw — dry grass

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