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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 stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. squash — the sport
  4. rest — a break
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. can — a tin
  7. hand — help
  8. game — wild animals
  9. field — farmland
  10. game — a match
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — what's left
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — to trim
  18. scale — in music
  19. squash — to crush
  20. can — a tin
  21. can — to be able to
  22. hand — in cards
  23. scale — size or range
  24. field — a subject

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