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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. drill — the tool
  5. chest — of your body
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. season — in sport
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mug — a cup
  13. drill — a practice
  14. drill — army training
  15. field — for sport
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. bat — the animal
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mug — to rob
  20. season — of the year
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. mug — a face
  24. rush — a thrill

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