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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — a subject
  4. hand — in cards
  5. cell — in biology
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bound — certain
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. hand — help
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. wax — to grow
  14. cell — a phone
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. field — for sport
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bound — obliged
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. chair — a leader
  22. sharp — clever
  23. bound — tied together
  24. cell — in a prison

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