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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. field — a subject
  3. branch — a division
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. field — for sport
  6. mine — for digging
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. field — farmland
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. cell — in biology
  11. row — a line
  12. net — in sport
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. net — after costs
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. net — for catching
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — to paddle

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