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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. field — farmland
  3. pop — music
  4. shower — to wash
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. rush — hurry
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. track — a path
  10. pop — to visit
  11. track — to keep track
  12. pop — soda
  13. bat — the animal
  14. shower — rain
  15. stand — to bear
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. perch — the fish
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. field — a subject
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. field — for sport

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