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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. hand — help
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. suit — to fit
  7. suit — in cards
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. field — a subject
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chair — a leader
  13. field — farmland
  14. tear — to rip
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. tear — from crying
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — for sport
  20. tear — from crying
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. suit — clothes
  23. hand — in cards
  24. mine — for digging

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