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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. ground — the earth
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. field — for sport
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. cell — in biology
  8. field — farmland
  9. kid — child
  10. cell — a phone
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. pit — in a race
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. march — music
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. field — a subject
  23. bat — the animal
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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