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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 116 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's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. dip — to sink
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. rash — hasty
  6. field — for sport
  7. net — for catching
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. net — after costs
  11. bulb — for light
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. net — in sport
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. bulb — for light
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cell — a phone
  22. rash — a series
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bulb — of a plant

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