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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. field — farmland
  4. drill — army training
  5. chest — a box
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. chest — of your body
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. drill — a practice
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. snap — to click
  15. field — for sport
  16. drill — the tool
  17. saw — the tool
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. row — to paddle
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. chest — of your body
  23. field — a subject
  24. hide — animal skin

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