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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. cell — in biology
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. mate — a partner
  5. kick — in football
  6. ball — a great time
  7. hand — help
  8. cell — a phone
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mate — to breed
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. field — farmland
  13. mate — a friend
  14. ball — a dance
  15. squash — to crush
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. field — a subject
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. squash — the sport
  24. field — for sport

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