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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 120 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. kid — child
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. rash — a series
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. bat — the animal
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. saw — the tool
  14. rash — hasty
  15. chair — a leader
  16. kid — to tease
  17. field — farmland
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. field — a subject
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. saw — the tool
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. straw — a straw man

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