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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. roll — a cake
  3. field — for sport
  4. roll — a list
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bear — the animal
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. last — finally
  13. bear — the animal
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. fork — in a road
  16. field — farmland
  17. last — to go on
  18. squash — to crush
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. squash — the sport
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. last — final

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