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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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. hand — help
  4. snap — to click
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. field — farmland
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. wake — a trail
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. drill — a practice
  12. hand — in cards
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. field — for sport
  16. game — a match
  17. drill — army training
  18. game — wild animals
  19. drill — the tool
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. field — a subject
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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