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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mine — for digging
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. bat — the animal
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — of water
  11. field — for sport
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. swing — music
  14. wake — a trail
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. swing — to play on
  17. field — farmland
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. field — a subject
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. snap — to click
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. bat — in an idiom

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