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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 an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. field — farmland
  4. hand — in cards
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bore — to drill
  7. hand — help
  8. bass — low music
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. court — of a king
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. kid — child
  14. court — for sport
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. bass — the fish
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. tear — from crying
  21. field — for sport
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. court — of law
  24. bore — to tire

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